Alistair Bernard MacMillan

Grants, Financial Assistance and More!

2012-02-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

So to my long long list of things to do I had added the need to apply for all sorts of grants, savings plans, and financial assitance in relation to Alistair having a disability. I'm so happy to say I've ALMOST got all these things applied for or underway... which is a BIG goal of mine before bambino numero dos comes along! Its amazing how much is out there for one to access. However, I know so many families that haven't accessed them due to the fact that their situation is so overwhelming that it just feels like it may tip things over the edge if they even attempt to get any of it underway. I have to admit you look at the checklist...... as they all have checklists of things that must get completed prior to sending the application on and it is overwhelming as it adds a whole other list of things one has to do in order to acquire this information...... ie make a doctors appt, go to the doc appt, requesting forms, returning and picking up the form....so ya it doesn't sound like a great deal unless you already feel maxed with all the other appts your squeezing in your day on top of the physio, speech, feeding issues, communication enhancement, etc that you work on on a daily basis and wonder why you are starting to feel a tad wiggy as you haven't gotten yourself out of the house! Anyhow I think I can say thanks to my nursing program as it taught me to prioritize and attack things one at a time in order to eventually accomplish finished tasks. Soooo after that long winded note to pat myself on the back I thought I'd share some of the things I've accessed and acquired as I find these things are not just laid out in front of you when you find out that your child can benefit from such things...it takes communicating with others in your similar situation, finding out what they have accessed or not, picking the brains of the professionals around you, and just a whole heck of a lot of digging...So if any of you are in the same boat as me perhaps some of these links and info I give you may help reduce the search and overwhelming thought of acquiring or at least applying for some of these extremely beneficial supports that may be available to you. I'll also share you my philosophy on some of it as I can basically justify absolutely anything if I can find a way to make it beneficial to me and get my butt motivated... so here we go....

Giving In Action Society ~ http://givinginaction.ca/ This society provides grants to families living in the province of British Columbia. It enables families to stay together by addressing accessibility issues in their homes and communities. They will help with providing up to $25,000 towards a wheelchair accessible vehicle and up to $50,000 towards making your home accessible for your child- including lifts, elevators, ramps, flooring, and door widening.
Melody from PG Surg Med ~ melody.chamberlain@pgsurgmed.com Melody has experience in modifying vehicles for increased accessibility and has a wealth of information in applying for funding, various modifications, and working with families to help them find a perfect fit for their needs. She serves everywhere North of 100 Mile House in BC.
Registered Disability Savings Plan http://www.bmo.com/home/personal/banking/investments/disability-savings/rdsp-essentials This is a savings plan to help parents and others save for the long-term financial security of a person who is eligible for the disability tax credit. From my perspective this is one thing you should really put an effort into acquiring if you or your child is eligible as it is incredible how much money the government will put into the RDSP to match your funds. Basically, they will put up to $70,000 of Grant money in the account over the lifetime and $20,000 of Bonds over a life time. To open a RDSP, a person must be approved for the Disability Tax Credit, be a resident of Canada, have a Social Insurance Number, and be under the age of 60 years. Every major bank can open an RDSP and all have a different method to support you in doing so. For instance, at Scotiabank I found they had little if no information at the bank but there was a phone number to call and they could do the whole process over the phone. I attached the Bank of Montreal website as to me it provided the least complicated description/explanation of what the RDSP is, how it can grow, and what amounts the goverment will put into the account in relation to your income and financial input. I could go on forever about this plan but I'll let you read it. However, if you have questions let me know and I'll try to help simplify it for you as it can be a tad confusing at first. O and one last thing if your income is below a certain amount you don't have to put anything into the account and it will still grow!
Endowment 150 Vancouver Foundation http://www.endowment150.ca/index.htm Many people with disabilities struggle to save for their future. To help those who want to save, Endowment 150 offers a one-time $150 gifts to holders of the Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) in BC. You have to have the RDSP set up and then you have a very simple form to fill out and attach proof that you've put in $25 into the RDSP already and they'll send you a cheque to add to your growing RDSP.
President's Choice Children's Charity http://www.presidentschoice.ca/LCLOnline/documents/PC_Childrens_Charity_form.pdf This charity is dedicated to helping children Canada wide who are physically or developmentally disabled. Their aim is to remove some of the obstacles that make everyday living extremely difficult and make it easier for the child or family to cope with the disability. They provide direct financial assistance in the purchase of mobility equipment,wheelchair accessible modifications, physical therapy and more. One main factor with this charity is you have to have a gross family income of less than $70,000. The maximum grant amount is $20,000 and I've heard but can not find it in writing anywhere that one can reapply to this Charity every five years where as many other charities have a once a lifetime clause.
Variety Club http://www.variety.bc.ca/grants.htm Variety provides
financial assistance for children who have special needs, with the costs of a
wide range of equipment, therapies, educational, social and recreational
programs.
Toyota Mobility Assistance Program http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/wa/vp?vp=Home.AboutToyota.Mobility&language=english Helps cover the costs of installing adaptive driving aids or mobility assistance equipment, the Toyota Mobility Program offers up to a $1,000 allowance to physically-challenged customers who acquire a new or eligible Toyota vehicle.
The Tiny Lights Foundation http://www.thetinylight.com/ This foundation is super wonderful and is a non profit organization that provides professional photography for children and families that have been faced with a life altering diagnoses. They provide families with the lasting memories through the amazing art of photography. With the help of many photographers throughout Canada they are able to provide families with photos they can share and help carry the many memories and it doesn't cost a penny. One thing to note with this foundation is they offer two photo sessions if your child is still in hospital. I have yet to take advantage of this great foundation but I've heard nothing but good things. The application process is simple. Your child must be under the age of 18. They contact you within a couple of weeks. Plus I've heard they do the photo shoot where you find it the most convenient ie. the park, your home, your front yard,.....

So a few of my opinions to go with all the above:

Let the foundations and charities make the decision whether you deserve the support...don't assume you won't get it. I meet the most incredible moms out there whose children are higher needs yet they haven't applied as they "don't feel right" applying for some of these grants etc as "there are so many families worse off then us". Let the foundations and charities make that decision! The other thing is if you do acquire financial support for your kids and it allows you to provide them a better level of care which enhances their overall progression or provides your family unit with a greater level of support you are not only doing your child and family a huge favour but the community and tax payer also reap the benefits in the long run as you may reduce the "burden" on the health care system down the road.
I find and have heard that families always like to put their children on a pedestal.....don't we all! When applying for a grant or charity this is not the time to tell them your childs absolute best abilities or accomplishments. I'm not saying to lie at all. I'm just saying you don't want to be writing your childs best accomplishment that may have occured once or twice a month yet there is no consistency to them. You want to tell your childs daily norms. We all love to say how perfect our children are but this is not the time!
When attacking these forms, pretend that your going to get all the money you're applying for. Then divide that amount into the number of items you need to check off the list. For instance, if there are 10 items you must accomplish in order to get the grant in the mail and you could potentially get $20,000 from this grant. Then every time you check off something on that list you have potentially acquired $2,000 in support for your child. Now is that not incentive or what. Even if it takes you a year to complete the blooming application you're still doing really well!

Well if any of you are reading this and know of other great opportunites out there for us to access please share...even if its not for BC perhaps someone on the otherside of the country ...or another country will benefit from your posts. ~ Happy Hand Cramps! ~ Julie

Sleep Sleep PLEASE Sleep

2012-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by the title of this one Alistair is not sleeping....or well he's sleeping BUT not when we want him to. Last night he got wingy at 7pm....we put him in bed and the sceaming till he pukes began. ACK..,....The little gaffer just winds himself up and up and up till he's vibrating and rolling fantically all over the bed. Then you pick him up and it takes anywhere from half an hour to several hours till he calms his little body down. So I'm thinking this little kidlet is being a normal little spoiled 2 and a bit year old but on top of it he gets this over stimmed nervous system that just is uncontrolled once he gets going. We've tried everything...let him cry: not a good option as he just gets totally out of control and then we're up all night trying to mellow him out and then he sleeps all day....we've done the melatonin thing: not sure if thats making it worse or what but I think it really just helps him go to sleep but thats fine until he wakes up several hours later crying his eyes out....we try exhausting him throughout the day but that doesn't change the end result....he eats like a tropper 99% of the time so his belly is full so he's content in that area...his bowels are in pretty good order now that we got totally wheat free....but ya...so typical day is wake at 4 am, get given a toy to play with till 630 am, eat by 7am, get tired and go to sleep about 9am till 11 or so...then lunch,...play, physio and all that good stuff, and by 630pm he eats super and gets tired and wingy...and then we go into unhappy mode : ( I also try the holding tightly to get him to dampen his nervous system and send a signal back to the brain to mellow out (PT told me about this) and it does help. Like last night at 1 in the morning he was getting out of control so up I got and just wrapped him around my belly and finally after 10 min or so he started to mellow...then back to bed and SCREAM SCREAM SCREAM.....So there is the issue of spoiled and special needs over stimmed nervous system and I just don't know what to do but let the little guy go with the flow until he grows out of it. This has been going on for 6 plus months and unfortunately he was starting to go down so much better and then his uncle played with him one night to Alistair's enjoyment but he got so wound up that he took me forever to mellow him and since then he's been a terrible sleeper again....So who knows! I just wish I could find that little switch to devert him back again....LUCKILY Jason does his fair share of being with Alistair in the middle of the night so we do give each other the reprieve we need. I just can't imagine having to take this all on by myself night after night....I think I'd snap...so ya I can't imagine how the single mamas do it all on their own...Anyhooo its 10 am and Alistair is contently sleepling...wish there was a magic wand out there....if you have any suggestions let me know! ~ The Ever Growing MAMA ~ Julie

Four Point

2012-01-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

Alistair is so fun to watch right now as he's very motivated. All throughout the day we can find Alistair with his knees under his bum and using his head to attempt to get up on all fours.

That's when I run over and give him just a touch of assistance and viola up comes his head. Love it! The neatest part is that he really gets a kick out of himself in this position. He literally starts to giggle and smile with delight.Now a few times a day while we just leave him be we can turn around and find him doing it all by himself! Every few days he seems to gain a tad more strength to allow him to stay in this position just a little bit more. Its tricky catching him on camera as by the time you catch him and grab the camera he has done a good ol' face plant into the mats. But its just fantastic for us to see him accomplishing this. In the picture above I would say he was up in "four point" (as our PT calls it) for a good 8 seconds!

I have a video below showing his enjoyment of rolling over and gaining ability. I have some other videos too but I take them for too long and then they don't fit on the blog. You get some good giggles in this one though so enjoy...I DO!

Family, Food, and Fun!

2012-01-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was definitely about family, food, fun and mellowness! Having been to Vancouver on the 21st and 22nd and then coming home to work the night of the 23rd and 24th I was definitely a tad bagged Christmas morning. But as usual, it proved to be a wonderful relaxing time.....we just had to do things a tad differently as I couldn't keep my eyes open past 9am!

Jason was wonderful in getting Alistair all invovled in his present opening. However, Alistair seemed much more interested in the gift bags and the wrapping paper than anything else!

Since I had to have a snoozaroo realtively early Jason cooked brunch for all while I had a nap.

Then when I woke we had another session of xmas present opening.Then everyone was ready for a snoozaroo! :D
For numerous evenings including Christmas Day we sat down to hours of board games.

Over the month of December Alistair has decided to take another leap in his progression which is of course the best Christmas gift for this family. For one, he's become alot more cuddly but he is also increasing his eye contact substantially with us all which is really neat. On top of that he's become very keen to be on his tummy and get up on his elbows and hands. Although it lasts momentarily and he comes down on his head into the rubber mat he seems to keep wanting to go for more. In addition, we do a lot of standing/dancing together on a daily basis. He obviously loves it as he giggles endlessly. (Thats another thing he's into is the giggles!)Now the most recent thing he's doing is attempting to feed himself a bottle. Although its messy and he'll only do it with one hand the fact he's doing it is fabulous to us!

(the video below shows his fabulous mess!)
On top of the busy Christmas holiday season my cousin Jessica and her fiance Paul decided to tie the knot New Years Eve.

So we got to have an extra special New Years Eve with family and friends in Fort Saint John to bring in 2012. ~ Happy New Years Everyone. I hope it proves to be a great year for all! ~ Julie

NORMAL!!!!!!!

2011-12-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Well the 21st was a pretty heavy morning. I got myself down to Women's & Children's from PG here for my 945am ultrasound. Now of course the tech can't tell you want they are seeing but they can tell you what they are looking at. So I got to see the little bambio bouncing around and of course over anaylze why they are spending so much time looking at this, that, and whatever. Thankfully, I had to only wait until 1130 to see the genetic counsellor for the results but that just felt like the world slowed down and forgot to turn. Geeze thank goodness I didn't have to wait any longer than I did. So waiting patiently in the genetics room Patricia came to the door and said "I have great news" Well I just burst into tears. One doesn't realize how much pent up angst one has until these moments. I just couldn't stop crying to the point that I even had Patricia get all teary eyed. Anyhow I got ahold of myself and basically felt a tad in shock. But basically to the best of their ability they can tell me that this kidlet is going to be NORMAL. (thats my favorite word!) Plus to top it off I had received the quad screen blood results a week earlier and was told that came back all negative as well. That created another great melt down to the point the doc called me at home to make sure I knew negative results were a good thing! O course I had but again it was just a HUGE release. I've also always dealt with my pregancies with the idea of "Expect the worst and HOPE for the best" So ya life is incredibly lovely right now. I was so strung after receiving the ultrasound results that I felt I needed to get out and walk for a bit to blow off some steam. Luckily the weather was brilliant while I was down and I ended up walking from Women's and Children's to my buddies place right down by Stanley Park. On the way I bought myself fancy smancy drinks and goodies, window shopped, took in the environment and ended up walking a total of 6km. It was great. Since I had planned for a possible amniocentisis I didn't book my flight home till late the next day. Fortunately, we didn't end up needing to take that route and my buddy Kim and her family opened their doors to me and we hung outfor the rest of the time. We headed to Granville for some breakfast and in the afternoon we hit up all the fancy hotels and checked out their decorations. One of the hotels had a gingerbread house competition and it was truly stunning what people had created. Kim and Grady are standing in front of a life sized Gingerbread house. Yeppers thats real gingerbread! This gingerbread display was the most amazing of all. It was done by one of the culinary schools down in Vancouver and the detail to it all was stunning. It was quite bizzare to be down there at this time of year as the grass is green and the temp is hovering around zero while everyone is completely bundled in huge parkas! One fella even had a beaver hat on...not sure what this lot would do if it truly got cold! Anyhow this was just a lovely Christmas gift for our whole family and now we can proceed with this pregnancy as a NORMAL average pregnancy......JUST BEAUTIFUL! Have a wonderful Christmas everyone ~ Cheers Julie Jason, Alistair and bambino to be!

Santa's in Town

2011-12-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

So we went to the mall and decided to get pics with Santa ...... it took a couple of takes and I wish I had a video rather than a still....Alistair literally tried to rip poor santa's beard off! It was quite funny but luckily Santa was quick on the draw and kept his beard to his face....not sure how it would've affected the other kidlets in line if he hadn't!
We also got to see Santa again at the Northern BC Children & Families Hearing Society Xmas Party. This time Alistair was enthralled by his slinky rather than Santa's beard!

For the past couple of years we've gone to the local store and bought a tree. We always missed the actual day of searching for our Charlie Brown tree so Jason and I went for a walk about on Mom's farm and found a couple of Christmas trees that would work perfectly. One for her home and the other for ours. Jason did all the physical work and I did the cheerleading.

Alistair is quite taken by all the shiny objects on the tree.

Alistair also loves reading the paper with Dad....actually he loves to attack the paper as Dad attempts to read it and Dad loves it!

Well I'm off to Vancouver tomorrow for another Ultrasound so hopefully all is well and we can experience the life of a plain old average pregnancy! Have a wonderful Christmas!~ Julie

Amazing MAMA

2011-12-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

If I can be even slightly like my mom when I grow up I'll be thanking my lucky stars....I aspire to have her contentment, insight, as well as her positive outlook on life. She's truly amazing!

So in my attempt to spoil her on her 29th bday (tee hee hee) Jason and I cooked her a nice Greek dinner which included spanakopita, a juicy roast of lamb, and some roasted lemon potatoes. For dessert we got to sink our teeth into a rich raspberry cheesecaske that I had thrown together and I have to admit it was absolutely delicious.

One of Mom's latest favorite sayings these days is...
"I don't mind getting older as the other option isn't too good. "

LOVE YOU MOM! ♥ Pickle (Mom's nickname for me growing up)

I also added a little video of Alistair attempting to figure out his little switch toy. Its all to help progress his communication. If he is capable of getting a handle of the switch toy in this context perhaps in the not too distant future he can start to use the switches to get across what he'd like or not like... Whatever the case he's pretty darn cute in it! ~ enjoy

3 + 1 = 4

2011-11-29T16:45:00.000-08:00

Thats right folks we've made an addition thats brewing away and is already 16 weeks in the making! We're so super excited/nervous but I've already made my way down to St Pauls Hosptial in Vancouver to see how things were progressing and the radiologist said that all looked well. Actually the ultrasound tech really took her time as she knew I was a nervous pervous and showed me where the heart was, the diaphragm outline, and even the stomach. It was very lovely of her as it put me a bit more at ease with it all as of course we've heard all the statistics in the book telling us the chances of this that and everything else and to be honest I'm bloomin sick of hearing statistics because statistically Alistair is the only one of his kind on this planet as they don't know why he is the way he is! LOL So ya don't talk to me about statistics. Anyhoo I'm feeling great. I've passed my bitching, emotional nauseous period and now life is just skippity doo so lets hope it stays that way. So I figured with all the changes coming our way I should give the blog a new fresh look that goes hand in hand with this pregnancy. I picked the jelly beans because unfortunately I can not get my hands on enough candy! I especially love the good ol' sours that are all dried up at the corner gas station. I am preventing myself from totally gorging on them but yummers! So life is good all around for this family at the moment. Jason remains busy as a self employed carpenter which is pretty nice at this time of year, I'm continuing to work part time in our crazy emergency department, and Alistair continues to surprise us with the progress he makes. He's now rolling on his tummy, maintaining that stance and playing with a toy momentarily! Love it. OOOooo and the gluten free diet ROCKS. We have decreased Alistair's laxative to half a tsp from a full tsp and I think we're going to beable to take him right off it. Plus now when he has a toot he doesn't cry and he doesn't spend three days attempt to have a good ol' BM. Now he's regular schmagular....so nice nice nice... We've also stuck him on a low dose of melatonin at night to help him with his sleep and it does seem to help but I don't think it removes the terrible two attitude he has a bed time. However the melt downs have become less and less which is lovely with this upcoming babes on the way. So ya life is great...so lets hope it is the same for you on your end...cheers till next time ♥

Two Week Challenge

2011-11-08T16:54:00.001-08:00

So after endless nights with random awakenings throughout I've decided to attempt a gluten free diet for Alistair. My friend Lisa has just started doing the same for her son and raves how much better he is in just a week. Considering Alistair already has low tone which includes his bowl perhaps this change for his system will be beneficial in many ways. I've decided to give it my best for two weeks and re-evaluate the situation after its all done. To my surprise most of the products I was looking at buying were cheaper in our local health food store rather than the big box grocery store. This wouldn't have been my first guess. I am going to try making some bread as the stuff I've bought is so dense and heavy and Alistair just wouldn't beable to consume this stuff. The little munchkin has a full set of teeth but hasn't realized the benefits of using his little chompers to break things up. So we can give him textured stuff but it does have to be just right for him and the bread just doesn't cut it. To my relief though there is all sorts of hot cereals we can give him which is what he loves for breakfast. So I bought a selection: rice, quinoa, and oats which all get to a palatable consistency for him. I'm also going to start giving him some high fat shakes too beef him up a bit as his metabolism is so high. I've been told its due to his high resperation rate due to the funky lung. Anyhow, I don't think I will stick so strictly that I worry about the odd sauce but overall he'll be a gluten free kid for then next couple weeks! Wish me luck : D ~ Cheers Julie

Spooky Times

2011-11-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Halloween is always good times for this family. Instead of buying a full costume at the store we still get a kick out of making things work with what we have in the house. So Jason dressed up as my husband in ten years. Giving himself a big belly, black eye and he was wearing a "bald head" as well. Alistair was a little scarecrow and I was thinking werewolf but came out too friendly so I got told I looked like a character off "Cats" or the Lion off "Wizard of Oz". I got to wear Mom's old furcoat which was delightful when we headed outdoors for the bonfire and fireworks.
Alistair once again looking too cute.
My buddy Lise or Cruela held the party out at hef farm as its her favorite holiday of the year.
It was good times out around the fire

Plus she went all out with the decorations....

...making it all spooky in the night

Totally aside from Halloween I've added a video of Jason and Alistair in our hot tub! Yeppers Jason found us a nice deal and set it up. Alistair just loves it and well so do we of course.....nice just as winter starts up.

Holidaying on Niatross

2011-10-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

We finally all got down on Niatross for a good week and the weather was glorious.
We started off with the first couple of days moored right down town Vancouver and Jason and I took the opportunity to go for a kayak in the harbour.
Uncle George played endlessly with Alistair to his delight
On the trip Alistair decided to grab a piece of candy and happily suck on while holding it himself! Whoop whoop this made mama happy. Now he's holding a healthier option, a wedge of pear, and feeding himself several bites!
We used the rough sea bed as a perfect crib for Alistair while he contently slept to the gradual rock of the boat.
The weather was so beautiful out at Gambier Island that we didn't get any actual sailing in but we readily used the kayaks to investigate the surroundings. We kept saying "if only we had these when we were offshore!"
There is nothing quite like BC's coast. With all Dad's sailing around the world the BC coast remained his favorite.
LOVE IT!
Alistair loved hanging out in Grandma's arms. The change of scenery and daily pattern seemed to be really good for Alistair.However, his sleeping patterns totally got messed up. He was basically an angel by day and a little devil by night....mind you he looks pretty darn sweet here! Needless to say this trip wasn't about a good nights sleep for this mama. Mom got out in the kayaks too
She loved it so much that she might just get a kayak for Christmas!
Mom and I drove back with Alistair over a few days and in one of the hotels they had the perfect chair for Alistair. I'm now on the look out for a straight back chair for him that we can casually get him to sit in.

We got to see Uncle Bent and Aunt Jean en route back home.
It was so nice to catch up with them.

Now to our surprise the only "wildlife" we saw the whole drive up was this single cock at a rest stop miles from anywhere. He obviously new that if he came to say hello he may just get a treat or two so we shared an old apple with him which seemed to satifsy his hunger.

It was a great trip south but as always its great to get home and get horizontal in your own bed!

Thanksgiving

2011-10-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful feast this evening with a bunch of close friends and family. There is nothing like sharing a meal, a laugh and great conversation around ones own table. I think that is something we've lost in todays society.

Just a gorgeous time of year. I hope you're all able to get out and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us these days. This is up at my friends farm and the place is just golden.

This is looking down our street and its stunning right now.

Alistair having a snooze on his Dad's shoulder

Music & Water Therapy

2011-09-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Wowzers time has flown by once again since the last blog! Life has been busy as usual. I've been desperately trying to get the exterior of the house painted before winter sets in but the rain just seems to keep coming and preventing me from getting any further. I'm hoping in the next week there will be enough breaks for me to get it done! The shed if pretty much finished and I love it! I'm going a dark red called "Chipolte Paste"! I was a tad nervous at first but now its all good. : D

Alistair has been enjoying life. We continue to work with him to help with his progression and he continues to love two things .....water and music. So I added a couple of videos showing just that. We found out lately that the local pool allows us to go for free since he is "special needs" and I'm his "aide" So hey why not! So we've gone several times and he just gets tuckered out which is great. Lots of sensory input for him which is nice as well and helps me change things up a bit but continue to work on his physio. As for music he just loves the stuff. Always lots of smiles and knee kicks and just pure enjoyment. So he continues to have a good hour of music every day while he lays in his crib. His favorite song is by Sharon, Lois & Bram, ♫ One Elephant went out to play upon a spiders web one day.....♫ I can sing it to him and he grins from ear to ear!

We also found out just recently that our hearing aides and FM system is all going to be covered by the Ministry of Children & Families. I believe its until he's 18 which is a huge relief for us finanically. As his hearing aides alone are around $6,000 every 3-4 years! So again another humbling experience of what is available to us out there. Very nice indeed!

Well I must header and get some more things off my too do list.

Hope your all getting better weather then we are! At least its green here!

Cheers Julie

REALLY...In This Day and Age!

2011-09-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

So we went to D'Lanos to have a nice Sunday family breakfast. The first thing out of the managers mouth as we rolled in was "you'll have to leave the stroller at the door" (no good morning, no smile, no nothing)...I explained the situation with my two year old son Alistair being low muscle tone, special needs and needing the stroller......His response "We don't have any room" He left to have look and returned with ....."We don't have any room" He was not apologetic at all, actually seemed quite irritated with having to deal with us while the girl at the front desk was cringing. She tried providing suggestions but he wasn't accepting any of her ideas. We decided to try holding him while eating. Although I'm not sure why we even tried to accomodate! I expected the spots left to be really congested. We got to the very back of the restaurant and there was plenty of room to bring the stroller. Even the server thought so. Actually with our stroller in place a couple could have walked past hand in hand I'm sure! Anyhow, Alistair wasn't coping even after we tried the high chair but as usual he slipped out of that one. So I went and talked to the manager again about needing the stroller. His response again was "There is no room" So I said "Are you saying you won't accomodate us ?" He didn't respond, he didn't look at me, there was absolutely no attempt to accomodate us or apologize. The server was extremely apologetic. I couldn't believe it! I definitely let him know I wasn't impressed and that everyday I live with having a special needs child and the fact that he couldn't accomodate us would prevent us from ever returning again. He didn't look at me, didn't respond, didn't do anything.....and I even stayed polite yet curt with my response. As we left, the girl at the front desk apologized profusely saying she had a special needs kid as well....... So lets just say we had a fabulous breakfast at De Dutch. They were very accomodating and there was much less room there than at D'Lanos yet they still were able to squeeze us in. I just can not believe in this day and age that a manager of a restaurant would act so inconsiderate. There is so much awareness with disability and special needs that one would think that there would be some level of attempt to accomodate.

The FIRST Haircut

2011-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ahh yes here is my little man with is drenched locks ready to get them chopped. It was getting to the point that he was starting to create dreads in the back and was a tad frizzy so ...chop chop

At first he wasn't too worried about the whole manner.....

Ooops and then he was! LOL Luckily this was momentary!

It was so convenient as my friend Mandee is a hairdresser and she came to Lise's home and cut all our hair! LOVE it! She was so good with him.

AND he still has lots of curls....just a tad more controlled....

...and by the end he was googlin at Mandee .... tx Mandee : D

Therapeutic Trees

2011-08-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

As always everyone in our family feels better in the head once they've gone out for a beautiful walk in the forest. The other day we decided that we should go check out the "Ancient Forest" which is about 90min east of Prince George. So glad we did! The little hike took us about an hour which wound through an impressive stand of ancient cedar trees. Although it poured the whole hike it made the stand of trees appear all the more impressive.
Since the center of the trees start to rot as they naturally develop it makes it difficult to determine the age of one such as the majestic cedar above. However, with a 16 foot circumfrence and estimated core samples they figured this one is at least 2000 years old. Isn't that incredible what its stood through! To our amazement Alistair calmed down after a 5 minute melt down during the start of the hike and calmly allowed us to enjoy our hike about this beautiful forest. He took quite an interest to the umbrella that Dad held overhead which I think helped to distract this not so familiar form of transportation for him.

Talk about distration, thats what it is all about in regards to getting Alistair to put weight on his feet. As soon as standing becomes his main focus he generally decides to flop down on his butt. However, if we can distract him as Lynn is above with a cool vibrating toy he seems to tolerate and even be quite content weight baring.

I don't know if you remember but our first real successful distraction was the cedar tree out in our front yard. Well all summer I have been using it to encourage Alistair to stand and its worked incredibly well. But like anything kids get tired of the same old thing so now that my flowers have bloomed he loves picking the heads off them! Definitely a good weight baring distraction...he loves my geraniums especially! LOL

Well as always its a bit of a roller coaster ride. I get so pumped with the different developments that Alistair reaches and then he plateaus. We've just joined a playgroup at the Child Development Center which I'm really keen on since Alistair gets very little interaction with other kids. Unfortunately, its right at his sleep time so its not ideal at the moment but I'm hoping to see some changes in his sleep patterns soon now that his teeth have all finally popped through. I have found the playgroups a tad tough as all the other kids are younger than Alistair and so much more advanced. Likely another reality check for me. But I have to admitt I do find it heart wrenching to see where he techniquely should be and isn't. However, reality checks are good and deciding what to do with them is really whats important. As advised by the speech therapists I should always keep one step ahead of Alistair to assist with advancement. So a good example of what we did the other day was set up a bunch of toys on the couch and he got so focused on them that he didn't realize we weren't there supporting him! That definitely made me feel all warm and fuzzy all over. He's our very special little man and he's taught me so much....patience, acceptance, and perserverance just to name a few!

Well now that its August we are finally getting some summer weather! So enough of this typing stuff I better go catch some Vitamin D while its available....Cheerio Julie

50th At the Dead Horse

2011-07-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

This July long weekend 170 people totally surprised my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Bill for their 50th Anniversary right on their ranch, The Dead Horse Creek Ranch, up an hour north of Fort St. John. Their daughter, Angela, strategically held us up in the bushes for half an hour so that we could come honking down their lane in a big procession.
The fact that they weren't expecting it was fantastic! They got a lot of hugs and handshakes : D

Highschool friends from Ontario even turned up.

and ballons got tied to their belt

There were people EVERYWHERE

The best part was all their kids could make it.

After a huge potluck we resided to the cow shed for some presents and cards and then.

ELVIS of course! My Aunt Rosie organized a Elvis tribute artist to come up and entertain the crowd for the night. He was FABULOUS!

In no time we were rockin the dance floor.

Alistair got right in there with everyone else and got tons of snuggles and cuddles

Here my cousin Chris and his wife Sarah have some Alistair time.

It was one big social!

Alistair finally crashed at about 1130pm. Thats when being hard of hearing is an advantage. Take off the hearing aid and the world becomes a quieter place

The next day my cousin Rod organized a huge game of Mantracker. There were tons of teams running all over the hillside trying to keep out of sight.

Here's one of many teams ready to rock the hillsides

If you know our family its all about card games and specifically hoss. We formulated 20 different teams and played a huge round robin tournament that lasted until 2 in the morning.

It was a weekend full of smiles, laughs and good times which was just a wonderful way to help my Aunt and Uncle share their 50th Anniversary with a BANG!

(Enjoy this little video clip of "Elvis and Hayley, my cousins eldest daughter,

singing "5 little monkey's")

THE BIG TWO

2011-07-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

WOWZERS our little man is TWO already! Truthfully in someways I'm not surprised as its been a busy two years. We had a nice mellow birthday party. I was going to have a big gathering but we've just been going nonstop on road trips that mellow sounded better for all brains to me!
Alistair got "CHUCK" the big red truck from Uncle Lance, Auntie Bonita, and Cousin Hayley. Every time he touches a different part it jerks around and makes fun noises. He LOVES it!
The house was alive with family! Cousin Hayley found new uses for Alistair's equipment. It was the best toy ever. She had it sliding all over the place. (Its his new stander)

Making a wish! : D Rocco (my friends super cute kidlet) and Hayley digging in.
A rare family photo on a very special day.

Welcome To Holland

2011-06-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

I was sitting around with my soccer team after the game have a brew or two in a team mates back garden and one of the mothers who had lost her teenage son to a bleeding disorder sited this poem. I've read the same poem on many blogs and even heard it in a nursing course and I find it helps people look at their children's diagnosis in a very different light. I thought it would be good to share as it is quite touching and every time I read or hear it I get a few tears in the good ol' eye balls as it definitely hits a chord with me .......It is also a good way of helping family members understand some of what we go through as parents during such a confusing and emotional time with all the unknowns to come......

Welcome to Holland

"Welcome to Holland" I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

By Emily Kingsley

Whirlwind Trip

2011-06-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well I almost hate to post that I went on this trip as there is so many people I would have liked to visit but one can only get in so much in a whirlwind trip. Basically, we put on about 2000 km in three days. We left PG early Monday morning and returned Wednesday evening as my buddy Lise, who I didn't take any pics of, wanted to scoot over to Alberta to check out some horses.

Alistair did incredibly well in his new Britax carseat as he didn't have any pressure points on his back. Its a concern of mine as with his hypotonia (low muscle tone) he can be a little bony along his spine. But whoop whoop no problemo there. Plus he was super content for most of the drive.

This was who Lise wanted to go and pet. She bought this beauty and called it after me! I feel so honoured. I'm not sure about the spelling but her name is Gewels.
We ended up staying with my friend Candace in Lacombe. It was great to see her plus her little man Sam. The last time he was in the belly. What a little busy body he is...cutiepatootie!

Little Sam in bath mode. Just love his expressions!

We also got to catch up with my good friend Sandra who happened to be down too. It was so nice for me to have three incredible and important women in my life all together in the same spot. The only bummer is we were having such a great time catching up I forgot to take a group shot! LOL

Its funny you know ALL Mom's are very watchfull over their little people that they don't pull, push, or yank on Alistair but I'm always saying let them go for him! Of course I'm protective so he doesn't get hurt. But because of his situation he doesn't get alot of contact with kidlets and his lack of mobility even makes it more so. Therefore, I am always plunking other kids right beside Alistair trying to get some interaction going!

Not too much interaction going here.....yet happily hanging out. : D En route home we got to see my dad's favortie mountain, Mount Robson. As you can see from the picture we could basically see clear to the top which can be hard to come by. Its so breath taking. We also got to see a ton of black bears, elk, coyotes, moose, and big horn sheep. So it was definitely a stimulating drive and good for this mama's brain! Thanks Lise : D

Mr Incredible

2011-06-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Its hard sometimes to put into words how

wonderful Jason is as a father.
This picture captures it beautifully.
Being Father's Day I asked Jason what he wanted to do and in typical Jason fashion he wanted to seal the side of the house. So afterwards I filled up his belly with Scallops and Bacon, King Crab, Garlic Butter, Sirloin Steak and Shiraz!

Everyday Alistair seems to be getting stronger and stronger in his core. If he's having a good day he'll stand with our hands on support and his foot supports for about 1/2 hour two times a day. Its really rewarding as he seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of it although he doesn't look super thrilled in this picture. LOL My two favorite men!

The Flintstones!

2011-06-08T00:53:00.000-07:00

We all remember the Flintstones don't we?!?!?! We'll not too long ago someone had me watch this YouTube video of the Flintstones. Its a neat little clip as over the 49 seconds it gives you a concept of what people are hearing when they are dealing with various levels of hearing loss. So many people figure if they just talk/yell louder that the person can hear and thats just not the case. CLICK HERE to get a taste of hearing loss in a familiar and comical little video clip! While you're watching keep in mind that Alistair has moderate to severe hearing loss.

Heaven in Pictures

2011-06-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous and close to Prince George we decided to go and camp out at St Marie Lake. It was stunning and we luckily got the nicest spot on the lake. This lake is only about 25 min from Mom's farm.

I got to go and toddle around the lake in my kayak which was heavenly
We got the brews cooling off in our environmental cooler

Hanging out at our campsite

It decided to pour rain briefly so Jason decided to give Alistair some beginning lessons in driving.

We got slightly motivated and went for a hike through the woods on some deer trails. Alistair is really good in the backpack for about 30min which makes for a nice little jaunt.

I love this picture...Alistair loves to play with our hair as we take him for a walk. Both of us loose multiple strands of hair when we go hiking with him! It helps with good head control LOL

Alistair just woke up from his first nap in a tent. He's been having major teething going on (5 coming in right now) along with some 2 year old attitude making for our night time sleeps a little hairy. But to our delight he crashed hard in the tent. Yahoo for fresh air!

We came to realize that we hadn't gone camping together for over three years! It was nice as we couldn't work on anything but down time! Loved it! Good for the brain..... : D

The sunset was glorious!My two very incredible men!

Outdoor Progress : D

2011-05-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

So the goal this summer is to get out and about more and not stuck on our own turf. One great place for us to head is Crystal, Mark and Walters place. Crystal and I both worked up in FSJ Emergency, got prego around the same time, and had complications with our pregnancies. Walter, believe it or not is a 24 weeker! Yeppers people that little munchkin in the pic below and he's doing fabulous! I was sure Walter was going to pop a balloon with his teeth but he didn't! Anyhow, this little men will be seeing a lot of each other this summer.....

Alistair not too sure what to do with the balloons other then imitate his buddy Walter!

Yes its TRUE! Alistair is actually standing on his own two feet!!! I couldn't believe it. As you know I've pushed and pushed our little man to weight bare by standing on his toes and holding him up under his arm pitts. Well we did get that stander which we get him to be in every day for about 20 minutes. Then the other day we were outside and while he was in my arms he showed a lot of interest in the tree. I have found that if I can get him thinking about other things then the task at hand that I want him to accomplish he is ALOT more likely to do so. So as you can see above the little munchkin did just that. He's weight baring. He only tolerates it for so long but he is doing it for a good 5-10min depending on the day and as long as he has him mama behind him for support. Plus I have to support his upper body due to the lack of muscle tone. But you know its just amazing lately how he's progressed with the whole core muscle tone. He's back to being able to sit with minimal support if he's fresh with energy and interested in something specific (some awesome toy from CDC!)
Here's a good example of Lynn, Alistair's physiotherapsit, working with Alistair to stand using an item to catch his attention.

We've also got this fabulous baby back pack that we got as a wedding gift...yes a wedding gift from Niki and my cousin Billy! Its so nice to have now and we just jam foam around him to give him core support. I figured I'd be lucky to have a couple minutes with him in the thing. However, half an hour later he let me know that he was done! So my big goal was to reach that length of time by the end of the summer and go on mini hikes everywheres and it looks like my dream has come true for us. Now for some new goals.......hmmmmm

Oooo yiippeee we finally got to download a video. This is a short and sweet one of Alistair playing with his favorite green ball. Its part of our morning routine after breakfast. Smart pops came up with this and its great. Alistair is in heaven when he sees the green ball coming.

Cheers Peps!

Spring is in the AIR

2011-05-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well the last weekend in April seems to be a caotic one for us ....at least for the past two years. If you remember from last year Jason built a 20X30 deck for the home show out of 2x4's. This year he took it to another level. He was able to get RONA, Timberspan, and Seasonwood to donate their products allowing Jason to build a deck with higher quality products. As you can see able he built the initial part on our front lawn and then frantically in two days at the home show erected this whole thing! Craziness I must say!
All that being said though it is so worth it. We were just located at the front entrance like we were last year which means that every single individual that walks into the home show had to walk past us. I don't know what the tally is for this year but last year they said they had about 20,000 people walk through the show. So definitely we get a good bang for our buck in regards to advertising. Jason gets the opportunity to showcase his ability, talk to potential clients one on one, and make a lot of contacts through the show as businesses also have an interest in making connections! The other big benefit was that because we had the majority of the materials donated we were able to raffle it off and give the proceeds to the Northern BC Children and Families Hearing Society! (empowering deaf and hard of hearing kids and families) So someone got the deck for $2.00 and the society got a nice $1500.00!

Grandma watched Alistair for the weekend as I helped Jason promote his business. To give you an idea we gave out around 800 business cards! Its a long weekend as the Saturday it was open from 8am to 9pm and it goes over three days. To tell you the truth I got sunburt and I think my hair color is a few lighter shades due to all the sunrays that weekend!

Everyone seemed to really like the Timber Fir pergola along with the composit decking and wood combination.

Of course the day Jason had to take it down it decided to pour with rain.....it made for some great pictures though! : D

Well the calls are definitely coming in and Jason is busy putting estimates together.....spring is in the air!

A Beautiful Surprise!

2011-05-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

Wow time flies! I was waiting and waiting to put this post up as I was trying to coordinate a very busy friend, my son and I for a perfect picture moment. However, every time Lise made it over to the house Alistair promptly went to sleep! So I've decided the waiting has to stop! Anyhow as some of you may have read in my last blog I had a suprise gift given to me with a very touching story attached to it.

Some of you may recognize this painting as back in December 2009 I blogged about a very similar painting that I had come across while Alistair, Mom and I were down in Vancouver going through a slew of appointments for Alistair. We were staying at the HolidayInn on Broadway and I would go down each morning to Coffee Blenz and grab us a cup of coffee. While waiting I would admire Catherine Adamson's artwork that she had displayed there. I just loved it as there was so much life in it along with a whimsical sense to it being so unstructured. Anyhow, I took a couple of pictures and dreamed of the day I'd have such artwork in my own home.
Well just about a month ago my buddy Lise Dahlstrom came back from Vancouver and she told me she had a house warming gift for me. So lo and behold what does she bring but this stunning picture all wrapped up just for me! But the story gets so much more touching! When Lise got in touch with Catherine she sent her Alistair's blog address to indicate which one she was hoping to get her hands on. So from what I understand it wasn't available but Catherine was happy to make a similar one up for her. Well when Lise met up with Catherine in Vancouver, Catherine told her she was so touched by the blog that she wanted to give the painting as a gift to Alistair! To top it off she wrote on the back of the painting "Alistair's Salsa". It makes an already beautiful painting that much more beautiful when not only has a special friend sought out this gorgeous painting for me but then the artist herself gives it so generously to Alistair.
I have put it up in the center of our home so that I have the opportunity to be touched by the painting on a regular basis. It truly lights up our home. I LOVE IT!
This morning when I googled Catherines website I found out that she presently has a show at the "Jericho Arts Center" in Vancouver from April 28th to May 22nd. So if you want to check out some beautiful work and you are in the area you should definitely take the opportunity. But if that doesn't work out check out her Catherine's website . There are so many stunning pieces in her website gallery make sure you take the time to look at them individually as she captures so much life in each one! Well the grass is turning green here, the birds are chirping this morning and the sunshine is pouring in the window. Life is good! : D

Alot of Going Ons!

2011-04-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

I know I know its been a month or so since I've blogged but life has been hectic, unbalanced, and just well craziness....So the balance has begun. I have this one month left as a President of the Northern BC Children & Families Hearing Society and then someone else can have the opportunity to take it on! So if your out there and interested come on down! LOL Actually we just had our AGM and I'm pleased to say we had a couple more people join as board members. Whoop whoop. : D

I've actually sat down many a times to blog and been stopped by the silly computer. I want to so desperately show you all many of the videos I have of Alistair playing with the ball, standing in his stander, and just be super cute but unfortunately I seem to be cut off these days from adding videos. So pictures you shall get.

Mid March I celebrated my 36th birthday and got spoilt rotten. It all, of course, revolved around food.......Mom made me a gorgeous cake

......and fed us all a scrummy meal!

.....and my buddy Lise made me some incredible looking cupcakes!

We got an unreal amount of snow after Christmas and my cupcake making friend got a tad snowed in on her farm. So i trudged in with a propane torch and a few other goodies to help kick start her unhappy tractor. So yes if you can believe it I'm standing on her driveway. Actually more like 4-5 feet above her driveway.

The dogs all found it good times....definitely a winter wonderland. (Good exercise too!)

One day in the last month or so Alistair decided that he actually would put his feet on the ground thank you very much. You may remember that up till then I had forced him to stand by standing on his feet and holding him up under the arm pitts. Actually something similar to this picture here. Well then all of a sudden he decided he'd put some weight baring through his feet. Now he's not doing it the right way by any means. But again this mama is just happy he's trying. Sometimes he gets it right and puts weight into his heals and other times he attempts to be a ballarina and curls right up on his toes or even onto the tops of his feet. Anyhow he keeps progressing to the point he needs less support to hold him up and more to just hold him straight. We just brought home the stander today. SO now we are going to attempt to get him in it two times a day for 10 min a time. He wasn't keen at first but food and music get him doing a lot of things he doesn't like! LOLWe got a surprize in the mail the other day from Aunt Beverly and Uncle Larry. They sent Alistair this nifty little outfit and some Nat King Cole and Lionel Richie DVD's. He just loves them. Male singers and instrumental stuff seems to be his thing. Nana also sent him a Mozart CD for babies and he just loves it. So great pics in music you guys! If only I could up load videos you could see his enjoyment he gets from them.....hopefully in the near future!

Jason is always trying to do something different with Alistair to change things up and this is only one of many!

Here's Lynn (Alistair incredibly talented physiotherapist). It always amazes me what she can get Alistair to do compared to us. It sure gives me incentive to keep trying new positions and different techniques to keep Alistair on the right track. Yay Lynn!

LOL Here's my stylish little man again! We use the babylegs all the time as pants can be quite restrictive for him. So this way his legs stay warm but we don't have to worry about the pants being too stiff, having buttons or bulky pockets in the wrong places, or being too slippery.

Uncle George came home for a surprise visit here not too long ago and he's back again sooner than later. Its nice to have George close enough that he can enjoy seeing Alistairs progress and get walloped in all the board games by me on a regular basis! LOL I am the PowerGrid champion! (Well actually mom kicked all of our butts the last time) Its a great game if you like those long drawn out startedy games.

Anyhow, Spring has Sprung! The ball is definitely starting to roll in regards to Jason's business ...... J.R.MacMillan Construction He's already got a couple of fences lined up for when the frost gets out of the ground as well as lots of great ideas and plans for the big home show at the end of the month. Last year Jason built a 20X30 deck for the show and he basically didn't have to advertise again for the summer. So were hoping for the same type of response this year. I'll be sure to add pictures of the deck he builds as it looks like its going to be pretty niffty.

So yes that means my working in Emergency is going to slow down. I have big plans for the spring/summer as well. I'm going to join outdoor soccer again as it was so good for my brain last year. Plus I'm going to make a significant effort to get outside daily with Alistair and get him exposed to alot of different environments, people, and experiences. I'm really looking forward to it!

Well I'm going to be blogging much sooner than later. I know I say this every time BUT I just had something given to me yesterday which holds a really special story and touched me greatly. AND I JUST LOVE IT! However, I wanted to blog about it separtely AND I need to take some pictures first with a few strategic people!

K Till then~ Cherrio Peps! ~Julie

Daddy Day!

2011-03-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

Actually its been Daddy Day all winter but Alistair and I helped Jason celebrate his birthday at the beginnng of the month.

As I got the cake in the oven the boys enjoyed the best part of the cake....well this cake anyhow! LOL

Yes here is what was supposedly the "best pound cake ever". I happened to leave it in the oven a tad too long and then when I tried to get it out of the pan the whole top ripped off......AND THEN in a rush to eat I threw the candles in the cake and they melted into the whole thing! Hence the different sized candles. Anyhow, even after all that he said "well its the thought that counts" Now thats an understanding husband. Basically, I had too much on the go that weekend and well I have a habit of forgeting what I left in the oven. SO yes I tend to use a timer on these things but it just didn't look like it was quite ready and then I forgot to reset the timer. OOOPS.

Ah yes here is Alistair's new buddy BOB. I picked him up at Granville Island in Vancouver. I actually went there specifically to get a puppet. The reason being is my friend Lisa bought a puppet and her son Rocco loves the thing. So I thought it may be a super way to get Alistair to interact as little people seem to be his favorites. And yeppers it worked. He follows BOB all over the room, HUGS him, and chats with him. So good times. So if youre ever heading to Granville and want a puppet they have a great puppet store in the kids market.

Well little Mr Alistair is still suprising us. I was getting my brain wrapped around the fact that he may never walk as we can dangle him over the floor and he just pulls his legs right up to his bum. BUT this little munchkin decided to put his feet on the floor about a week ago. Now he isn't getting his heels right down but he does at times. Just the fact that he considers it regularly is great in my books. In addition, he just seems to be a lot more alert and oriented to his surroundings overall. So of course these are all wonderful bday presents for his dad and of course it just makes this mama happy. : D

Balance with a CAPITAL "B"

2011-02-25T21:25:00.001-08:00

Wow is he cute or what hey! Mind you if i had a sugar cookie that large with my name on it right beside my head I would be lookin that cute too....or at least attempting to look that cute! LOL
This month has been a little crazy busy....actually the last few months have been so needless to say my goal for the spring/summer is to find a nice balance. We've just had so many things going on. Jason and I decided it was best if I picked up to full time and he be a stay at home Dad during these next couple of months as carpentry work is few and far between at this time of year and when summer hits he's working 16 hour days/ 7 days a week. So its worked out great and the big and little men seem to be enjoying themselves immensely. Jason is truly great with Alistair though. He's consistently doing physio with him and feeding him scrummy meals. For instance, the other day for supper Alistair some squished up avocado on one side of the dish and on the other was cream, mashed potatoes and PEANUT BUTTER all smushed together! LOL To be fair I have to tell the rest of the story...alistair has had a nasty snotty head cold prevent him or making him very disinterested in food. So to no surprise he lost a shwack load of weight. So we've been making power meals to get those pounds packed back on as he really isn't the biggest child on the block AND it seems to be working. Anyhow...so yes this mama's workin a bunch in the Emerg here in town and there rarely seems to be a mellow day in that place. If anything we're lucky if we get all our breaks. But in the same breath I do like working there.... so yippee for me. But its been a bit of a shocker for my bod and brain to go to full time from a nice mellow part time schedule. Anyhooo then on top of it early in the month it was time again for Alistair and I to head on south to Vancouver for more checkups. Thankfully, Alistair and I were welcomed in to Kim and Grady & Don's home once again. I say thankfully as it is a bit of a medical overload of information, tests and specialists and even though i attempt to brush it off Jason does say it always takes me a week to get back to my old self. I just get a lot of worst case scenario, investigations, and of course it all gets the brain going and i don't think the specialists really realize how we as parents hang on every word uttered out of their mouths! First of all we saw the opthamologist, the plastic surgeon, the occupational therapist, the neonatology team, the neurologist, and the geneticist all in ONE day. Generally it has gone ok in the past but I think with Alistair being a little older he's more aware and not so content to be disrupted out of his normal daily routine. PLUS to top it off we started with the opthamologist and he stuck drops in Alistairs eyes to dialate them and WHAM Alistair went into overstimulation mode and then of course thats what all the specialists got to assess was Alistair hyperextending his limbs constantly, being irritable, and blah blah blah. So ya and what Mom likes to see their kidlets in a overstimed and irritable mood? So and then I was REALLy hoping to find out some information from genetics this time as we would like to extend the family at some point in time in the not too too distant future. But that started off with the geneticist not having results from the blood work and basically it looks like it got lost, then he proceeds to tell me that we have a %25 chance of having another kidlets with similar issues, and then he says that he doesn't really know what syndrome alistair has but the closest he can figure is one that only three kids have in the world but they all have a small upper lip and a drop (hypotonic jaw) jaw which Alistair doesn't have....anyhow I guess the syndrome remains nameless...but the geneticist finalizes it by saying but we won't go there at the moment because the outcome of this syndrome isn't good.! ACK well then WHY THE FLYING FLIP would you tell a mom that. RRRRRRRRR Sorry but you know I actually like this geneticist BUT they don't get what that does to a mom. I honestly nearly puked. geeezeeee...... Anyhow so thats why it was soooo good i wasn't staying in some hotel room to stew over that. Instead I got to go back and hangout down town Vancouver in my friends apartment looking over the ocean and eatting incredible dinners and drinking scrummy red wine! So ya it took me a bit to normalize and that just takes a bit to get that out of your brain or at least not on the forefront. I have to admit it still bothers me but what do you do? well i know what i do...i just work at "normalizing". Anyhow thankfully for my brain mechanic, Jason, he seems to be able to talk me into a better place and keep me level and well realistic. So as i've said a many a time if it weren't for his level headedness I wouldn't beable to cope as well as I do. yahhhh Jason! : D

Ooo here is a picture of Alistair eatting one of Mummies lazy suppers : a piece of bread slathered in peanut butter and soaked in cream.....Mmmmm

Well wow did I ever go on a tangent. I started about balance and never really finished that convo! LOL But basically I also have a lot of time and effort that I put into the Northern BC Children & Families Hearing Society which empowers deaf and hard of hearing children and families. We're putting on a mini immersion weekend here March 4 &5. It'll have parallel activities for both parents and children with all sorts of good stuff in there. If your keen and in town you can always E-mail pgdeaf@telus.net for more info!

In addition, to that we've been moving nice and casually into our home in town. It really is nice and like Christmas all over again. I'm going through boxes Jason packed 2 years ago and its just fun to unpack and see what we own that I totally forgot about!

Anyhow, last but not least I just want to make a shout out to a family that wrote a little note on my blog and has just headed down to Vancouver to have their little girl who has also been diagnosed with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia.......

So you know I always hated the word "journey" in nursing school but truthfully it really fits in so many circumstances and I think this word fits for you and your family. You've embarked on a journey and you don't know which roads your going to go down, who your going to meet, and what experiences your going to have. Sometimes not knowing EVERYTHING all at once is a good thing. It allows you to cope in stages and gain strength along the way. But one thing forsure is you'll know your supports and others will come out of the woodwork that you least expect. So during this challenging time of unknowns this is when you hold those supports close. Lean on them with ALL your weight when need be. Allow yourself to laugh, cry, and just be in the moment. I wish I could tell you exactly how its all going to turn out but I can't. Just remember to take care of your mental and physical self as you will be in turn be taking care of your little girl.

Take Care and if at anytime you would like to banter back and forth through E-mail I would love to hear how you and your little girl are doing and I'd be happy to be a support! jj_juels@hotmail.com (((HUGS))) Julie

The Proof is in the Pictures!

2011-02-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

yes life has been more than hectic to say the least but heres our little munchkin snoozin away with no care in the world!

O Yes and here he is again SNOOZIN! Actually it seems to be a bit of a habit for him. He gets through half his breaky or half is dinner and suddenly he's in snooze mode! Its quite cute actually as the eyes are closed but the mouth keeps going.

So heres the proof of why I haven't been on the blog bloggin! Yikarooey hey. This plastic was for all the stipling Jason was doing on the ceiling. Looks like we're prepping for a haunted house but no sireeeee!

Here's the kitchen with me cuttin in. I did the whole upstairs : priming, and two coats on EVERYTHING up stairs....ceilings and all in ONE week. I hate to admit it but my shoulders were sore. Jason took time some well deserved time off from the house and watched Alistair at
Mom's while I painted frantically. I think I got a little toxic from the vino and fumes i took in over the week! : D (Just a little tip...painting is a lot more enjoyable with a glass of Shiraz!)

To my surprise floors have to be leveled prior to applying flooring so heres Jason as a busy body prepping prepping prepping!

A little grin for you all! The kitchen was the first room and thanks to my buddy Lise and her mom Margaret Dahlstrom I ended up painting my house the following colors which look FAB: sancturay, swiss coffee, baked biscotti, artic ocean, terra cotta, and seashore pebble.

I LOVE my kitchen...we're going to wait till next year for the cupboards but we have put together a very doable kitchen! To be seen in the near future

Jason couldn't get over how many floors we had under the floor if you get what I mean. When he dug deep enough he found a beautiful fir floor but unfortunately it didn't go through the whole house and wouldn't have worked to make it part of our new home so its still hiding under our new floor!

Jason every so jolly doing more stippling

A little R & R time for daddy and Alistair. Alistairs doning his new touque crocheted by Auntie Bonita

To top it off we got a tad of snow to keep us busy as well!

I was the shoveler while Jason prepped the house. Great work out for the biceps.

It was pretty exciting when we got to this stage. Especially for Jason as he's put so many hours into this house. ~ Our cherry birch flooring

Daddy watching some Baby Eienstein videos. Which I thought were a load of #$&* to start but actually they are quite good and Alistair seems quite intrigued by the whole thing.

Jason has been amazing at getting Alistair to do a lot of sitting and its so neat to see him actually want to sit rather than having to force him to.

Jason also enjoys getting Alistair to "fake crawl" and Alistair gets some giggles out of it. Well I hope all of you are having a fab start to 2011. One thing I learned forsure in 2010 is your support system if the key to keep you going in the right direction and staying mentally and physically healthy. So keep those supports close to you or reach out and be a support as you never know until you really need to be supported how import being a support is! (did that make sense?) Cheers peps! ~ Julie

your

Family, Friends, & Food

2010-12-31T15:39:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Christmas Holiday season we have had to date! The best part is that Alistair decided it was time to move forward on his progress. Yeppers best Christmas present ever. The last week Alistair has not stopped talking, plus he is just that much more alert to his surroundings.

It made Christmas that much more enjoyable for us just to beable to snuggle up to him and have a giggle come out of him or to have him chirp away at us. I bought these balls on MasterMind Toys and he just loves them. I highly recommend them. O yes and as you can see I "tormented" Alistair (as Jason would say) by putting him in these little felt elf shoes i found at a local store.

This is one of our most common sites around the house now. Alistair still needs assistance but its minimal in regards to sitting. As you can see i'm just applying a tad of pressure with my leg to his hip and it gives him enough reassurance to stay upright. Over the holidays he sat for at least 2 minutes totally unsupported. Another happy moment for us.

My buddy Colleen came back from Calgary for the holidays. Alistair got a ton of attention from everyone that stopped by and were thinking this helped his progression as well.

Hayley "Bailey" came down with her parents from Taylor, B.C. as well and had fun educating my mom on paper dolls.

Checking out the sites on Christmas Day

Hangin out with Nana's elephant

Having a crokinole tournament with close family friends

Alistair's Muscle Shirt from Nana. I did a 11pm to 7 am shift in Emerg and came home and got people motivated for Christmas. The motivation lady had a noon snooze later on.

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

The Lady of the House! (Crazy Lady of the Valley! : D)

Pops loving being a Pop

So there you have it! Christmas in a nut shell was all about family friends and food. I'm sure we've all put on a good five pounds but happily did so. I did have great intentions of sending out Christmas Cards as I absolutely love receiving them. However, the cards are still nicely packaged ready to be used for next year! LOL So thank you all for the wonderful pictures and cards. All the pics are plastered all over the fridge door. Have a wonderful and safe New Years and we'll chat again soon.

Love Julie, Jason & Alistair

Enjoy the two videos! Unfortunately the are a little on the dark side but cute all the same! : D

How to....

2010-12-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

Hello hello!

So I've heard from a few peps that they have difficulty posting a note to my blog and its always fun for me to get your posts SOOOOO here is a how to session. At the bottom of my latest post you'll see the word "comments" or "5 comments" in a yellowish color. You click on that and you'll see everyones comments. Scroll to the bottom of the comments and you'll see "Post a comment" Write your little diddy in there AND finish it off with your name. Then there will be a drop down menu and pick "anonymous" and then click "post comment! Easy peasy!

Hope all is going superb your way. We are loving some mild weather mind you i'd love a tad more snow just to make it a winterwonderland!

Cheers for now!
Julie

Tis the season!

2010-12-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

Alistair & Santa's First Meeting! Gorgeous day up on Cranbrook Hill

Surprise attack from Santa Claus : D

One of the two sleighs full of members with the
Northern BC Children and Families Hearing Society

Jason loves getting out the outdoor Christmas lights

and what a great tree to decorate! I'll tell you what though

that was a challenge. Lets just say PVC pipe and lots of luck! LOL

Enjoy the videos & pics ~ Cheers Julie

CDC Seating Clinic

2010-11-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Wow another humbling/crazy busy day yesterday. We started by heading to the audiology clinic to get a new fancy smancy bone conductor 1) as his last one died on us and 2) the new version BAHA is in! This one is actually going to be his loner after the one we order comes in...and then we will actually have our very own and it won't be a loner anymore....makes me nervous as the bloomin things are $4000.00! Yeppers nuts hey. Luckily through the BC Early Hearing Program our parts, maintenance and even one replacement is available until April 2013. Then we're on our own. So ya I've already started a little hearing aid fund that I add to here and there so the shock of having to buy hearing aids won't be so financially drastic when the time comes along.
Our next stop was the Child Development Center (CDC) where a team of people who came up from Vancouver to fit about 16 kidlets over two days with various contraptions to help them sit, stand, and mobilize better. K this was the humbling part! Look at all those people ALL working together to make the PERFECT fit. You wouldn't believe how much they focus on the details. Move this an couple millimeters here and that a few there....Just amazing. The neat part to is this is the stander which which will hold Alistair into position so that he gets the sensation of standing through his bones and joints which also helps immensely with development. I'm sure the more I understand it the more I'll share with you. Anyhow to my utter surprise after a good melt down session to start with I think Alistair ended up playing with some toys on his little stander table for about 15-20min. The last time we did this with Alistair I think we made 5 min!
But look at the contraption hey. Its like something out of the movie Matrix or I Robot! Anyhow it was just beautiful to see my little man stand and actually get to a point of enjoyment as I have been wondering if he has pain with standing as he just doesn't put his feet down and has been super teary about the whole process.

This is pretty cool too. Unfortunately I can't remember the mans name but this fella built this whole blue chair with the straps right there as we waited. When we arrived all the chair was was some plywood and foam thats it! Amazing hey! AND Alistair loves this too. Plus I can put it right into our stroller So he can sit up nice and straight and see the world go by. Prior to this he had to lay right down due to his floppy torso!

Ya i love this picture too...Look at these people. So dedicated to these little helpless people that wouldn't go nearly as far without their fantastic abilitities to create such wonderful support. YAAAAA Seating Clinic People! LOL

ANYHOW...after this it was back to the audiology clinic for a new ear mold for his air conducting hearing aid and then to the Ministry of Children and Families to meet up with our Social Worker. Unfortunately there was miss communication as she was away on holiday when I came for our appointment but still they are there to support. So why do we have a social worker? Well from what I gather Alistair was assessed to be a part of the "At Home Program" which is followed by the MCFD. Basically (and I'm sure I'll write more about this as I get to understand it more ) they are going to pay for the equipment Alistair needs as above as some of these contraptions ie the green one I was told was around $4000.00. So ya another phenomenol service for little munchkins like Alistair. Again without it we'd struggle LOTS financially but he'd have the equipment and this way we don't struggle. We can continue to live in our normal lives! Yahoo At Home Program!

SO thats why I think I'm a bit of an emotional basket case today. Ya FINALLY I get to stay home for the first time in 10 days. So brain break time for Julie. I'm a little bit on the overload side of things: new job (caotic but friendly staff), not playing soccer (crazy late schedules 930 and 10pm games) which is unfortunate as it was so good for my mental health!, house renos that I can't help the poor hubby with BUT its coming and looking so sweet!, physio, speech therapy, courses as I'm new to the hosptial and blah blah blah blah. SO I'm trying to get the good ol ZEN back and get things D-cluttered at home and perhaps get the man to bring me home a bottle of Shiraz! Mmmm K peps thanks for listening! : D J

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T22:06:00.001-07:00

We had a great halloween. Alistair and I dressed up as clowns ie retired and up and coming clown! LOL We had a busy day with the PG Deaf Children's Society heading a social group at a haunted house and then we calmed the nerves over hot chocolate and whip cream and learned some halloween words in ASL Then we dropped by one friends home for our first ever and only trick or treat. AND we topped it all off by heading to our new home in town and handed out some candy to about 20 kids that knocked on our door. Always love handy out candy to the kids. Hope your day was spooktacular too! hee hee hee BOO

Some Goodies

2010-10-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Flip its almost like I dropped off the face of the earth and then I turn around and blog three times in a week! Anyhow I just wanted to add these cute videos....well the one is just of Alistair eatting but the other is of him reacting to a Native American drum that i bought at the UNBC craft store this weekend....I also bought him this neat little rattle that was made out of streched moose hide and the rattle part was bee bee pellets....he loves them both...and as you all know i'm always looking for some new thing to introduce him some new sounds. Anyhow if your in PG this old Native fella has some neat little and big drums, rattles, and even baseballs! Mom also bought Alistair these neat black boots made out of wool. The lady makes these big booties and then washes them and dries them purposefully to shrink them... Anyhow thats the latest little expenditure and it was fun to go check out a good craft sale!

The Little Things!

2010-10-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

I finally got a good picture of him (not so great of me LOL) lying his head on my shoulder. You know the average mom takes this for granted ie the tummy to tummy head on your shoulder cuddles. Well my little kidlet until very recently NEVER would put his head on my shoulder. Actually his favorite position is his back to my front. Its funny ALL people try to pick Alistair up and put him in this position and generally he goes into what I'd call the Peter Pan pose....toes pointed, arms straight back, and head hyperextended! So when I get the pleasure of this cuddle of love I absolutely LOVE it. Slowly but surely we get more and more little tastes of what "normal" is all about.

I also am floored regarding how much Alistair suddenly wants to be a little chatter box. I was having a mummy moment in the last week concerning myself with his lack of verbalizing and then he must have felt my stress because he's chatting morning, noon, night, midnight, early am,...and on! : D So i'm delighted and he seems to be holding his mouth a tad different too which is creating all sorts of new sounds to come out of those little lips.

Anyhow thought I'd share my delight! Enjoy the chatterbox video. Julie
PS I should just mention about my previous blog...one can still become dependent on that laxative its just the least likely of laxatives to cause dependence and for Alistair at the moment the benefits far outway the risks of being on the low dose. The pediatrician actually mentioned that since he has hypotonia (low central muscle tone) this low muscle tone could transfer to his gutt as well. So I'm hopefull that its mainly due to his lack of mobilization and fluid consumption and that the word laxative will become a thing of the past just like his regurg has!

My three favorite things!

2010-10-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yeppers these are our three favorite things these days. Why well object number one the "ThickenUp" can be used in hot or cold food or beverages to make things not so fluidy. AND since I've found that Alistair is not drinking because fluids are too liquidly VOILA this is my answer to all my problems. Plus to my surprise I found out that some thickening agents change are not necessarily good as they totally change the make up of the fluid. I guess this stuff doesn't so basically he still gets the benefits of the liquid even though its thickened! Does that make sense? Anyhow the next one RestoraLAX yes you guessed it this helps the poop not become rabbit pellets which for some reason makes Alistair very very happy! LOL I've also been told by the pediatrician that he won't become dependent on it like some laxatives so super bonus. The other great thing about this stuff is you just sprinkle it on to whatever you need him to consume. ...Anyhow last but not least this is the first drinking cup that Alistair has stuck with for more than 2 days! whoop whoop. So in goes the thickened and diluted apple juice and we are all happy. I'm sure mom has bought Alistair every possible drinking contraption out there but anyhow this was the winner!

Alistair is still in heaven listening to the Rankin Family, Harry Belafonte and Natalie Cole. Basically thats the tapes we have so thats what he listens too on his tape player. Hes even getting into the cooing with the music and playing with his feet.

Everyday lately to my delight Alistair seems to be acquiring more and more torso control. Here he was able to sit for a good minute with only my legs supporting his sides. He seems to be at his best early in the morning when it comes to the torso control department. Its also obviously that he gets enjoyment out of sitting as he coos and smiles away.

As for me and work I am so pleasantly surprised up to now. Everyone is incredilby welcoming, friendly and supportive. Basically they just seemed thrilled that I took a permanent position even if its only part time. WOW they are short short staffed. Its really unreal. So far its not surprising if you miss breaks and i guess thats the norm here. So the little feeties are pretty darn tired after a 12 hour shift! But anyhow ya its a totally different ball game down here then up north. Not worse or better just different. Here we have our four beds allocated to us and we know thats our responsibility but the waiting time here is a good 6-9 hours! But there is just no movement as there is long waits for lab work, a lot of the beds are constantly held up with admitted complicated patients, and its just darn busy. Where as up north we were doing everything from triage, trauma room, cast cutting, iv therapy, ECG's, basic care etc and the waiting time in ER there was an hour at the worst and we had ANGRY people up there in FSJ as they had to wait SO LONG! LOL Gaud if they only knew how good they've got it!

K well the leaves are gone but the grass is still green here. Jason is busy working on the electrical in the house and is optimistic we will be getting in there sooner than later. We'll keep you posted Cheers Julie

Beautiful BC All Aglow

2010-10-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

Wow time flies when life is busy! Again another significant lapse in time since the last blogging occured. I guess that can be taken as a good thing...which it is apart from the fact that life is BUSY. So ya since the last time I was on this thing Jason, Alistair and I jumped in Jason's truck and headed south through Jasper/Banff National Park for Lise & Troy's Wedding. (click on the highlight to see more pics!) Lise and I've known each other since we were just itty bitty three year olds as our mothers met taking our brothers to kindergarden and happened to both be Danes! So the connection stuck.

(Us cute and three)(Us still cute and in our 30's! : D~ Staggette)

Anyhow they got married at a stunning resort/location right in the mountains ~ Emerald Lake Lodge. We as a family pampered ourselves for a couple days. I got to see my best bud get hitched, I reconnected with a bunch of old school mates, and we got to eat great food in a incredible location and to top it off the weather was a scorching 20 degrees!

(Lise & her Pa)

(Us just prior to the big moment!)

(Emerald Lake)

After this we headed West to Golden and caught up with my cousin Eden, her kidlets, my Aunt Rosie, and Cousin Chris. It was short but sweet and we were happy to see Eden on the mend. She just got a silicone implant in both her eyes for partial detachments. The lucky lady went to renew her contacts and they demanded a reassessment prior to giving her a new set. Lucky for her as it sent her through a whirlwind of experiences but with two eyeballs on the road to recovery rather than a white cane! So if you ever think about B#%ching about an eye exam think again! The $90 once a year is worth a lifetime of sight....and trust me I've been irritated having to go and pay that monthly fee.

(Isla~Edens daughter, delighted Alistair woke up)

Anyhoo...we headed back north through Blue River and McBride to get back to PG. Alistair and I had a couple of days to recoup (literally) and then we were back in the truck heading North to FSJ. I just couldn't believe it when I drove into ol' John that my throat got tight and I chocked back some tears! All the feelings that I had when I was 7 months pregnant heading south to make Vancouver our home until Alistair came into this world came flooding back to me: leaving Jason and the pups behind, heading south for the unknown to live on my own, having this kicking bundle inside me oblivious to what his future may hold ie will he live or die, leaving my comfortable network of friends and family, and so on. How bizarre! Basically I told myself not to be so emotionally silly and then everything was alright. LOL Anyhow, the first night we spent with my cousin Valerie and her clan. As usual Valerie and I solved all the worlds child based problems in one night. Then the next day I bunkered in with Sandra Whitney and her family.

She (forth from the left) held a Meet & Greet for me which was great. It was so nice to see all the familiar faces and it felt like I had never left. Obviously there was some good solid ties made up in the North for that to happen.

( 4 months, 15 months, 8 weeks )

Some extra kidlets that weren't in the picture when I left came along as well. Lucy (on the left) is only 4 months old but in the 90th percentile where as Alistair is 15 months old and in the 5th percentile. I found that quite entertaining. Its amazing really how once you have kids of your own other kidlets become interesting but prior to that they are basically noise machines that are cute for a allocated period of time! After that great social we headed an hour north to my Uncle Walts and Aunt Vals ranch for their 40th Anniversary.

What an achievement. It makes you wonder where life will have taken you when you reach 40 years! One guarantee (well as long as we remain above ground!) is I'll be 75, Jason will be 76 and Alistair will be 35! My age now! Yikearoosy. Another bizzare moment. Anyhow we had lots of great catching up with all the famdamly. I attempted to head home the next day but it just didn't happen. I got to the town of FSJ and turned back into Sandra's place for a strong coffee and never left till the next day. All the going ons finally caught up to me. One thing I haven't even mentioned yet is how incredibly gorgeous the whole drive was. Everything was just one big GOLDEN GLOW and made the already incredilbe drive that much more spectacular. Anyhoo to top it all a day after I got home I started my first day orientation in PG Emerg......but I'm going to stop there for now and save that for another time..... : D

(PS! Alistair's eye contact is coming along nicely and surprisingly he doesn't mind wearing all his apparatus's although he's free of them in this picture.)

Little Harry Potter

2010-09-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Yes this mama finally got her butt in gear and got some glasses on his head. I say this as I got the perscription for them back in early July when I was down to see the specialist. I just didn't get too motivated as I figured my little man wouldn't keep them on his face for more than 5 seconds if that! Well of course he proved his mom wrong and now I think the poor little guy could have been seeing that much better for the past two months. Ack! Anyhow I guess I can add that too my list of little guilt trips I can give myself. So yes he does keep them on his face until of course he decides he has enough. But sometimes we can go for a good hour or more before he reaches this point. Its obvious that he does benefit from them as he is a bit more interactive and purposeful with his approach to things.

The thing I find really funny though is sometimes Alistairs ability to use his hands and arms are limited. His arms can be quite stiff and he doesn't utilize his fingers and hands like one should. BUT that being said when its time for the glasses to come off hes able to hook his little finger right under the left arm of his glasses and he just keeps pulling until they pop off! But I've always found that with Alistair if there is something specific that he wants to do with his hands he will.
We've also been taking our physio sessions with Lynn at the rehab pool in the hospital. Its lovely as the pool is like a warm bath tub. Right now there is just another mom and myself who come to the sessions. Alistair and Kale (the other boy) both seem to quite like it. Mind you Alistair has always loved the bath. If you remember thats where we headed when he had that month of what i call colicy spells. Anyhow we just spend 20-30 min helping them to interact in and with the water whether its splashing their feet and hands for them, or floating about on their tummy on a big foam mattress. Whatever we do it seems to be a good fit for Alistair and I have to say I like that we are changing it up a bit. Plus it gives me a chance to meet other moms whose kids have challenges as well.

Well these next two weeks are BUSY! Tomorrow Jason, Alistair and I are driving southeast to Yoho National Park where my friends Lise and Troy are getting married at Emerald Lake Lodge. The nice part is its taking place over a whole weekend so its like a little holiday for our family as well! Then we're going to drop in to see my Aunt Rosie and Cousin Eden and her kidlets who are all hanging out in Golden and then we'll make it home. Shortly after that Alistair and I'll pack up again to head North to Fort St John. My friends kindly holding a Meet & Greet up there for us as it makes it so much easier to have people come to you then only get to meet up with 2 or 3. So that will be fun as I haven't seen most of the people up there since I left in May 2009 when I left for Vancouver to be monitored and have Alistair. Yes thats right I never did get back "home" to FSJ after I left so it'll be a nice visit. But we aren't only going up for that we also are going up for my Aunt Val and Uncle Walts 40th anniversary. So another nice get together with family. Then we will finally come home and I will jump right into my first orientation shift at PG Emerg on Oct 5th. Yes its hard to believe but my mat leave is officially over! : ( But hey i was fortunate enough to have an extended mat leave as it didn't begin until Alistair was discharged in Sept and then i had some vacation pay saved up! So bonus for that!

Anyhow the world hear is absolutely gorgeous and golden. Hope you all can enjoy it as much as i am! Cheers Julie
PS I just had to add this picture. I so laughed when my father-in-law Rod MacMillan took off his sandals and walked into the house. Lets just say that in the summer he is one dedicated sandal wearer! LOL

Busy Busy Busy

2010-09-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

Three Generations of MacMillans

O my goodness one plans and plans for things and then all of a sudden all these plans have been experienced and become part of the past! All last week we got to enjoy having Grandma and Grandpa MacMillan with us. It was such a treat to have them here as they live all the way over in Nova Scotia. Good ol' Cape Bretoners! : D You could tell they enjoyed themselves and so did we. Grandma Polly couldn't get enough of Alistair and he definitley enjoyed her attention. Lots of chatting, smiles, and even the odd giggle!

Grandma MacMillan & Alistair

The last night they were here we decided to have a good ol' weiner roast. It was a nice mellow way to spend our last evening and I found out the the baby monitor will pick up all the way over at the fire pit. Its got to be a good 500 feet away from the house! We're hoping that we can make our way out East next year prior to Alistair turning two so he can still ride the jet as a freebee!
Anyhow, Friday morning we said our goodbyes to Grandma & Grandpa MacMillan and then I ran around with my head cut off getting organized to assist with our Adventure Camp weekend out at Ness Lake Bible Camp. This is the second year that the PG Deaf Children's Society has had this particular camp for the kids and what a success it was! We had a total of 37 individuals of which 16 were kids, 4 were profoundly deaf adults, and 2 adults with severe hearing loss. We had gorgoues sunny weather for most of it. Saturday was jam packed with canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, archery, ultimate frisbee, a scavenger hunt, sign language games, tons of crafts, and lots of time around the camp fire watching sign language campfire stories by Greg Warren who had us all roaring with laughter! One of our meals was out at the campfire. I had never done this before but you roast bannock on a stick. Once its cooked you pull this cylindrical bun off the stick, fill it with condiments, and then shove your weiner in it and voila you have dinner! It was definitely a fun and yummy process. But you did have to be patient cooking that bun.I had full intentions of bringing Alistair out with me but at the last minute Jason and I decided he was better off staying home with daddy for the first night. Well they ended up coming out the next day and once again we decided he should stay with dad for another night. It was actually a really good thing as it gave me the opportunity to really get to know the deaf and hard of hearing community up here in the north. So kuddos to dad as it was the first time it was just Alistair and Jason home alone together and you know at the end of the weekend Jason said "you know that was the best weekend of my whole summer!" Now thats one incredible dad! As my mom says "he's definitely a keeper!" I on the other hand had a bit of a hard time the first night going to sleep with out my little guy. Not that I was worried as I knew he was in good hands but I just didn't feel complete. I lay there thinking I should be in my glory at the moment enjoying the solitude and uninterupted sleep but alas that was not the case. I probably woke up more that first night then I do with Alistair. Anyhow to keep my mind busy I repeated all the words I learned in sign language that day. By the end of the weekend I had learnt over 50 words. There is definitely a lot of incentive to learn when there are people present who solely communicate in this language. I just love learning it! I find it amazing that even though I have a limited amount of signed words, all the people at the camp who primarily sign can still get their point across. You know I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this but its a lot like charades....and I've always loved charades! Anyhow most signs make sense to why you use your hands that particular way to interpret that word. Actually, if you want to check out a few signs go to Signing Savvy. Anyhow it really was a fantastic weekend and this camp solidified for me the reason why we have the society and the positive impact we can make.

One last bit of news before I head off to bed is that one of Alistair's little chiclets FINALLY broke through! Yep at 14 months his bottom left incisor came in. Actually it was while I was gone for the weekend....Sept 11th. Another milestone. You know I laugh as you think is he ever going to get a tooth? With everything you just wait for your kid to reach these milestones and if i'm not careful he'll be 18 and i'll have forgotten to really enjoy these days!

K time for bed...hope the fall is as gorgeous where you are as it is here! Cheers Julie

Not a Great Mix!

2010-08-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

Yepperoosy its been a month of constipation and teething. My poor little munchkin has not been the happiest camper but hey who would be with those two things nagging at your body all the time. Luckily, we finally got the one sorted out for the most part ie constipation. However, two little chiclets keep threatening to push through his lower gums . So ya, I was just feeling the bliss of him sleeping through the night when WHAM it all got changed about again. One good thing is when we came back from Manitoba we decided to move down stairs and Alistair finally got his own room. Its great! For one, I don't wake at his every movement or random squack as I turn down the monitor so that I only hear him when he really wants his mama. So on the nights that constipation and teething weren't an issue (which are few and far between) I got some amazing sleeps. So bonus for that!I really can't believe we're at the end of August and here I haven't written at all this month. Sometimes one can say ...no news is good news! Basically thats the truth! Alistair has been doing just fine apart from the above complaints. The only problem is is he also became pretty wingy too. He's getting pretty clever actually. Mom comes in the room and the whining begins. Mom leaves the room and the whining stops and out comes the smiles! The part that has been really bugging me though is the fact that I can't do my regular physio with him as the little gaffer literally hyperextends backwards and cries his little heart out! So yes an abrupt stop came to the sitting, the weight baring on his feet, and the kneeling in crawl position. I just find it a real bummer as it was the one thing I could do to help him moving forward and progressing. Its definitely been a 3 steps forward two steps back month. But as usual Lynn at CDC helped take the pressure off my brain. She just helped me realize that I shouldn't beat myself up about this and to focus on what I can work with rather than what I can't. Sounds simple hey! Well it is once someone gives you the ok! Today we got Alistair in a very odd looking appartus that basically straps him into a standing position. He managed 15 minutes for his first go. Not his favorite thing but he was willing to tolerate it somewhat. Anyhow, we do keep seeing little bits of progress here and there. Its just that this month its all in the details! For instance, with his hands he's starting to curl his fingers around the side of his high chair and he keeps himself proped up with hands. He also seems to be following stuff with his eyes a lot better now as well. So since our physio side of things have slowed down I'm trying to put an extra effort into enhancing his hearing and vision and I think I'm seeing some positive changes. Sometimes I just wonder how much is wishful thinking and how much is actually occuring. Anyhow his vision is a far cry from what it was in February. However, he still isn't too keen to focus on the face. Mind you right when I tell people this he turns around and looks at them! You may wonder how one works with the vision. Well basically you just stimutate you kidlet with visually stimulating things that aren't too busy. Plus you always want to present them the same way. So not upside down, sideways etc. So we use a lot of colorful things and as soon as he looses interest we move onto something else. I incorporate the hearing stimulation with the vision a lot too. So using items with bells (he LOVES bells!), or squeeky toys, or toys that make noise when he touches them. Thankfully, the CDC and IDP provide a lot of great toys as a lot on the market is basically out there to entertain the parents then help the kids. Ooo some other good news is on August 9th Alistair had his last dose of phenobarb (one of his anti-seizure meds) and just the fact that I don't have to crush and mix a med everynight is a bit of a treat. It seemed to take forever to get off the med as one has to slowly decrease the dosage over time. I think it was about eight weeks ago that we started decreasing the phenobarb, so ya its been awhile. Now the goal is to see if he can handle being off the Ranitidine, which is his anti-reflux med. The pedicatrician's plan is that he will hopefully "grow out of it" and it seems to be working as he has been on the same dosage for the past 5 month or so. Would it ever be nice if he was just down to one daily med!

Well thats the gist of it! I continue to be busy with the PG Deaf Children's Society. We have our Adventure Camp out at Ness Lake here in a few weeks so thats keeping me a bit busy. Plus an instructor that works at CNC is pretty keen on working with our society to develop a new logo and website for us. So I'm pretty pumped about that. As for the soccer, the summer season is winding down. We have a couple more games to play and then hopefully I get on an indoor soccer team! As you can see we've also checked out a bit of back country and if you can believe it these lakes are all within an hour of moms farm! Kuddos to Jason for loving the back country as I had never seen this part of PG!

So ya life continues to be busy! I thought as the cooler months started to arrive my little daily planner wouldn't look as caotic but that doesn't seem to be the case! But one should just be happy that they have the opportuntiy to enjoy the caos as you know in this last month there has been a couple of people I know who have received some shocking news in regards to their health. So if you've got it....appreciate it and take care of your body as its the only one you get!

Well I had better send this on. I hope it finds you all well and I'll do my darndest to blog sooner than the last one!

TTYS Julie : D

Sun, Sand, & Sanity

2010-07-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

O it was lovely....lets just say I was able to read a book under a tree and watch the pelicans fly overhead and sip on a cider while listening to the water lap against the beach. BRAIN BREAK CENTRAL! Ya it was good for all of us. It was a bit of a long haul for Alistair in getting there as it was about a 12 hr door to door trip with the flight and drive combined but once we got there it was so super nice. Jason's Mom and family have a 160 acer island 1/3 of the way up on the East side of Lake Winnipeg. Its gorgeous. The last town is Pine Falls and then you keep driving for another 1 1/2 hours. Gorgeous! Brian's grandfather who was Metis bought the island in 1906 but first he had to give up his native status to do so. He bought it for $10.

Just being on the water was good for the brain

One of Jason's absolute favorite things to do is go pickerel fishing or just fishing in general. So several times we went out to the channel and through in a hook. The funny thing is the very first cast I made was not exactly ideal and I started to real in and VOILA Julie caught a fish! I rarely have the patience to catch the poor things but today was my lucky day as I literally had been fishing 2 minutes! Jason was delighted as we were the only ones into eatting late that evening so we had a good big feed of it.

The weather was absolutley amazing the whole time we were there. Even when we had a 2 hr interval of dark low heavy thunder clouds roll in it was still amazing. Family across the water called to warn us that golf ball sized hail were coming but we only got a few marbles. However, the clouds were so intense we were actually ducking! We even came up with a game plan if a tornado decided to touch down as the sky was that bizzare...no joke!
When we do make it out to Loon Straits (the area where the island is) we generally try to go around the annual golf tournament. Its not your average golf tournament though as the golf balls are baseballs and the clubs are well.....

This was my team. Uncle Lester, Alistair's Auntie Shyan and myself. Lester ended up being one off of the biggest cheaters (aka winners) and I was one off of the most honest players (aka loser). Its always really good times and no we don't play 18 holes but we do play nine!

The local transportation comes in all forms......

(Jason & BJ were moving the couch to the small cabing)

and getting back from the beach

I have to add the next couple of pictures as Brain, Jason's stepdad had this beard for the past 30 years. The only time Anna had seen him without it was when they very first met! He figured the kids needed to see his cheeks! To my surprise the guy didn't have any tan lines on his face....

We tried out several looks before he went and had it all trimmed off. Good times!

It was so obvious how much Nana enjoyed having the little man about. It was great for him to be held by so many other people and just get out of our monotonus routine that we tend to get in while at home.

Nana entertaining Alistair with her musical talents

And Alistair even had his own mini violin to try out although he was not too interested!

Trying on Auntie Shyans sunglasses! : D

We celebrated our FIFTH Anniversary (WOW time flies), and Alistair and Auntie Shyans Bday

and we also all got in a ton of relaxation time......

Dad & Alistair in the gazebo watching the lake.

Auntie Shyan, Angus (the cat) & Alistair mellowing out in the 30 degree weather

Anna and her boys

Well pictures are worth a thousand words....BRAIN BREAK!

Hospitality in Vancouver Rocks!

2010-07-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

Alistair and I had a great trip this time down in good ol' Vancouver. We flew down the 12th and returned on the 17th. This trip really did not feel so medical. For one the appointments went all quite well with no drastic or unexpected news. Plus the hospitality was superb and I really got a chance to chill out after all the appointments. On Monday Alistair got another EEG (basically an electrical scan of the brain) and then he saw the neurologist, Dr Connolly. Fortunately, I feel very confident with Alistair in her care. She reviewed the EEG and informed me that he still has seizure activity on the top aspect of his brain but it is alot less activity then before. I guess he was also on a low dose of Lamotrigine for his weight ie 30 mg a day where I believe she said he could be on a dose as high as 150 mg a day. So we have lots of play room. So we are continuing to decrease the one med and increase the other. Ooooo yes and since he had that cluster of seizures he hasn't had anymore and seems to be quite bright and bushy tailed apart from the darn old teeth pushing thru and reeking havoc. Tuesday Alistair saw Dr Versher (wonderful lady) who is the plastic surgeon and feels he's really doing well with his hands. So yahoo I think we're free and clear in the realm of hand surgery. (THANK GAUD!) The OT Kim (another great person) also lengthened his splints as his fingers were falling over the end. But it looks like another 6 months max and he'll beable to say adios to those things. Its amazing really even though its such a minor thing they still have to go on every night and the soft ones go on as often as I can remember during the day. Just to have those off the daily "to do list" would be brilliant! After this appointment Alistair and I jumped on the local bus system and headed to Granville Island for some hat shopping. I must have been in a great frame of mind that day as I chatted up everyone in sight. Its a good indicator to me how I'm doing mentally! So ya good stuff....Wednesday we say the Optitrician Dr Lyons (nice gentle man) who said his retinas were looking good (whew) and that he has a slight stigmatism and slightly far sighted so we are going to try some temporary glasses. Then we saw Dr Matsuba. He's a developmental pediatrician at Sunnyhill Hosptial with a specialty in visual impairment. This was an interesting appointment as he was able to use these cards to determine how well Alistair could see. They had an aproximately 6 inch box on them with black and white lines. The first card maybe had 4 black lines in that space and each card had more and more lines where I finally was going cross eyed. Anyhow he basically said he isn't blind but he is on the cusp of having vision issues. Alistair actually preformed really well. So I was delighted but Dr Matsuba was slightly disappointed as I guess there is great funding out there for kids who are dealing with hearing and sight issues. Anyhow we will follow up in a year and go from there. So as for his sight I've been told he can see but he has to be trained to use his vision and there is no program to help with this at the time being. So thats the only thing where I felt a tad overwhelmed....actually once I got home I felt it quite a bit just because now I not only have to stimulate his auditory nerve for his hearing, I have to work with his motor skills and help create "super highways" of the brain, I have to work to enhance his speech, and I have to stimulate his vision to teach him to use it appropriately. So ya ACK flippin ACK! BUT isn't it just amazing that we have all these resources in Canada to access. I also find by having these scheduled appointments it helps one keep on track with the plan when you just feel like falling off the wagon for a bit. Can you imagine Alistair's existence without any of them? It almost makes me nauseous thinking of it.

So now for the hosptality down there! I stayed two nights with Mrs Lovely Jan-Louise (the nicu nurse my bud up north connected me with) This women literally opens her doors and makes me feel so welcome its astounding. The only problem with the lady is we always get into these conversations on how we are going to solve all the worlds problems and then I end up going to bed at 2:30am and Alistair decides to wake at 4am.....hmmmm not so great! But hey fun till the morning arrives. The thrid night I stayed with Kim, Don & Grady. Grady was born 8 days after Alistair at 25 weeks gestation and man is he a little trooper. Kim and I connected in the pump room at Childrens and have been buds ever since. We always try to connect when we're down and its fun to see the progression of our little men. Grady wanted to use Alistair as a big teether this time so we had to be on the alert! But it was good times. Great food and fun location. They live right down town by Denman street so we were out in English Bay at the beach and just out and about people watching (which is heaps of fun in that area). Then the last two nights George and I planned it so he'd be down on Niatross at the same time. That was fabulous. We powered (due to a lack of wind) over to Bowen Island for the night. Alistair seemed to really do well with the swells and movements of the boat to the point he just snoozed away. Its like being in a huge rocking chair. We just put up the board that one would use in stormy weather to keep you on the bed and it was a perfect little "crib"It was so nice to get out on the ocean and have the wind blow the cobwebs away. The next morning George jumped overboard in his gear and scrapped the haul and then we went for a little hikaroo with the stroller. We had promised Jan Louise a sail in the harbour that evening so we sailed back to Vancouver and picked Jan up and headed out. Unfortunately it wasn't good sailing weather when the evening came about but she seemed to still love the experience as we puttered around to English Bay and Granville Island.
So ya...thats my long winded way of saying we had a nice little brain break down in the big city! Now we're home and getting ready to head to Lake Winnipeg where his Mom and Brian have an island. It'll be a nice getaway for all of us.....hope you're all getting brain breaks this summer too! Cheers Julie

Another Party!

2010-07-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we had another little get together with some friends and little Mr Man was definitely more on top of his game. His eye contact is coming along and he was proving that this day...which was great.We made another strawberry shortcake since the last one was so yummy and this time Alistair actually laid eyes on the cake. I stuck a bit of whip cream in his mouth and that was that.
We all enjoyed celebrating with a few friends and family.
And Alistair got a bunch of belly rubs from Uncle George!

This little video is of Alistair chatting away in his Dad's arms

Little Man turns ONE!

2010-07-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

Its absolutely unbelievable that Alistair is ONE! Wow time flies and so much water under the bridge too! In typical Julie fashion I left everything to the last minute (the afternoon of!). Its funny really I've had 365 days to plan his first bday and I wait until I'm in the grocery store to be inspired (kinda typical of me). So Alistair and I drove around in a nicely conditioned vehicle (thank goodness as it was 30+ deg outside) and went Alistair shopping for streamers, prezzies, & food! We got some fun touch activated musical toys, some snazzy shoes, party decorations, salmon steaks, foccacia bread, whip cream, & lots of berries. As you can see from the pics Uncle George made it home to celebrate with us. It was a fabulous afternoon. I decked out the deck. Made Alistair a balloon bicycle that became a unicycle as soon as I put it down! LOL The only thing is our poor little guy was nackered by the time we started to celebrate as it was bed time! I'm sure he felt all the positive vibes throughout the day. So as Alistair dozed off in his high chair. We consumed a yummy meal off the BBQ and dove into a berry shortcake without strawberries as he's had a bit of a reaction to them. We still sang happy bday, blew out his candlle, and took turns opening his presents. It was a wonderful day of celebration and I have to admit my heart strings were pulled several times throughout the day thinking of the incredible journey our little man has indured over such a short period. He continues to smile, make us laugh, eat copious amounts, and progress at his own pace. June has been a great month for him although his seizures have surfaced once again within the past week. Fortunately Alistair and I are off to Vancouver this Monday to see a slew of specialists, one of which is a neurologist, so I'm sure a new plan will be considered. The great thing is that after we have three days of appointments we're going to join Uncle George on Niatross for a few days for a bit of a brain break!

REMINISCING

I thought I'd add a few pics from his first days. Its astounding really what the human body can endure! We're so in love with him and of course so very proud!

Daddy and Alistair when he was still in his private room with all his life saving gadgets.

Loving being in Daddy's arms.

Yes there was a time Alistair would take a soother....only when on bubble CPAP!

Mummy with her precious little man shortly after surgery.

We all love those little toes... : D

What an incredible journey of precious memories. I love you Alistair so very very much.....

CANADA DAY

2010-07-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well we started off Canada Day by going to the park in Prince George and so did thousands and thousands of others. So after an hour of standing in line for food and watching people parade around Jason and I decided to go fishing instead! I think Jason's love for a lack of people is somewhat rubbing off on me. My brain was so much happier once we got out of that place and into some real Canadian landscapes. We headed out a back road close to moms, found a little creek, pulled out some fishing rods, got out our Canadian cups, filled them with some Canadian cheer and celebrated Canada in peace! Alistair and I walked down the back road checking out a ton of gorgeous wild flowers. I have to say an Indian Paint Brush (above) is still one of my fav's! I use to suck the little sugar sacs in them as a kid. Anyways I just love the accessibility we have up here to the outdoors. One of the wonderful things about good ol' PG.Alistair continues to progress. The head control he's acquired over the past month is phenomenol. He's needing less and less support up high now. For instance, we use to have to support his neck and now we're supporting his lower chest as shown above. The CDC (child development centre) gave us that supportive chair, the table, and numerous tools to help Alistair progress and they're definitely doing there job. We try to get in the chair once a day for about 30-45 minuites. As for rolling over, he's definitely grasping the whole concept. I almost lost him off the bed the other day not expecting him to make so much progress so quickly! Its wonderfully shocking! One of the vidoes below shows him rolling about on the bed. He loves the freedom thats forsure.

Well I hope you all had a super day! Julie

Father Day : D

2010-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

What a gorgeous day for celebrating amazing fathers. Jason is definitely under the title amazing father, incredible dad, brilliant dad, caring papa, marvelous father, wonderful dad, ......i could go on and on and on. That man has diligantly stood by our side through all the knowns and unknowns. There is nothing more touching than seeing a father pick up your son with care, love, and belief that the best is yet to come. There is no doubt I loved Jason before but now our relationship has been taken to a whole new level......I can't imagine anything stronger than the love a family interchanges. It can almost make your heart ache and smile at the same time. Anyhow.....Jason is one amazing father and I feel so fortunate that Alistair can call Jason his DAD. So today we are celebrating Father's Day although i really believe all the celebrating shouldn't be held thru until that one titled day a year ...but hey WE ARE CELEBRATING! I pondered away about what I could get for Jason and truthfully there is nothing that makes a bigger impact on him than food. So last night I baked up some strawberry topped brownie torte http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brownie-Torte/Detail.aspx and Rugelach with Cream Cheese Filling ( a type of cookie type thingy) http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rugelach-with-Cream-Cheese-Filling/Detail.aspx Then this morning we started off with some nice cards, hand delivered coffee, a banana pancake breakfast with real maple syrup, smiles and giggles from Alistair, and a HUGE LOBSTER.

Yes tonight we had our own lobster feast! I found Jason a 3lb+ lobster for him to consume. There was enough left over for lobster sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. Yes thats a true maritimer thing..... So today we can say we were truly bulging with joy...cheers to all those special dads! Love Julie

Milestone Craze!

2010-06-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Alistair's Amazing Physiotherapist~ Lynn Bergman

She's getting him to put pressure through his feet and

touch the musical touch activated toy

He did so well last visit!

Mom getting Alistair to do something similar

Its astounding really. We went to Alberta on a road trip and truly it was a holiday in more ways than one. I mentally decided to take a break and chill out from all the physiotheraphy, speech theraphy, and calorie pushing that I tend to do on a daily basis. I wondered if I'd regret it in the long run as I was concerned he may back track a tad from the lack of consistancy. But it seems to have done the complete opposite! On the trip he decided it was time to feed himself a mum mum cracker (a quickly disolvable cracker) which is huge as he basically has only put a spoon in his mouth. He also decided he'd start grabbing his feet which has been an endless daily routine in trying to make him aware that they exisit. Now he has decided he can grab them with both hands! Anyhow after we got home he suddenly starts rolling over three times before we even get out of bed...........mind you its starting at 4 in the morning....but who's complaing? We can't believe it really...its just wonderful that he's at this stage. He seems so determined to no longer lie soley on his back. So thats making this mama and papa pretty proud. Its not limited to just the above though. He is also starting to eagerly drink from a glass, do some weight bearing through his feet, and interact with musical cause and effect toys. So just as I was coming to terms with a lack of progression my little man decides to surprise his ma prior to his first birthday. Needless to say this is quite the treat.

We have also started to wean him off his old anti-seizure med as the otherone is up to its max dose. So fingers crossed that is uneventfull. So far so good. Some nights he has a lot of extra movement but that was even prior to reducing his meds. It'll be so nice to be down to two rather than three meds. But whenever I think of complaining about having to give him anything I remember this mom and her 10 month old babe in the x-ray department at Children's. A month prior to that meeting she had been informed her daughter had Cystic Fibrosis and she was having to give her 31 yes THIRTY ONE meds A DAY! So if you ever get on the poor me band wagon ...think of that little darling having to scoof down all those meds EACH DAY.

Cheers Dears! Jules!

Success!

2010-06-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well I definitely wasn't sure how this past week was going to go. Alistair and I have mainly just toodled off into town and he may have sat in the car seat for a max of 2 hrs at a time. So when I made the big decision that Alistair and I would jump in the car with Grandma and head to Chris and Sarah's wedding off in Calgary I was definitely curious how we were all going to make out. To be honest it really couldn't have been any easier for any of us! We just shoved the front seat right up to the glove box and one of us sat back and hung out with Alistair. Whenever we stopped for a pit stop we just pulled him out of the car seat and let him stretch out and roll around. It was perfect. So ya for us. Its actually really nice for me to know that he is transportable as it increases all the possibilites for us. I'm thinking I need to make a road trip sometime this summer back up to good ol' Ft St John and this just confirms that its dooable. Anyhow the wedding was lovely even though it decided to SNOW! Yeppers we were driving in slushy stuff with summer tires. Ahh yes not what we like to do but at least everyone seemed to be driving appropriately. The wedding was gorgeous and as usual when the Hedges Clan gets together we have a blast and really rip up the dance floor. I brought along Alistair's little tent and just snuck him over to the side and he slept soundly while the music was blarring, people were chatting, and kids were giggling. So yessiery there is a benefit to having a bambino with hearing loss! He did decide to wake about 11pm and hung out with all of us for 3 hrs. Alistair and I even got in a couple of dances!!! We didn't only get in a wedding though. I got to see my buddy Colleen for a short but sweet visit and then I hung out with my long lost sister Candace for a couple of days. She's very prego so we had a good time chinwaggin about all that mama stuff. I also got to wallow in her beautiful home and throw around some ideas for paint colors. We finished off with a nice night with my bro and then headed back home. Just for me to get on the road and see some mountains was incredibly therapeutic. It all must of did me some good as I came home and played my second soccer game ever and got a GOAL! I have to admitt it got me a tad excited last night! .......Well the world is gorgeously green here in PG. Its funny how we have to leave our home to return and appreciate how gorgeous the place really is. ........hey just a note for those of you that reply to my blog can you just put your name down as well as I get these lovely replies and don't have a clue who wrote them! Have a super duper day! : D

President

2010-05-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

Yepperooozy this mama did it again! Last night I went to the end of the month PG Deaf and Hard of Hearing Society meeting and by the time the night was over I became the President of the society! The lady that was doing it had put in 3 years of her time and she was ready for a change. No one else seemed to want to step up to the plate and the society does have a small turn out so ......I am now a president! It shall definitely be an interesting challenge. One drawing factor is that even though there are few members there seems to be a lot of passion involved. During our meeting it became obvious that our finances are stretched due to numerous funding applications that have come our way. The society tries to financially support families in some way when they have large expenses. For instance, one family whose daughter has a cochlear implant has been recently notified that she will need surgery to put in a newer version of the cochlear implant. They have no choice as the parts and pieces for the version she has now will no longer be made. So this unexpected bill for the year is a pricey $8000.00. Now thats a hard hit as far as I'm concerned. The other bills for other families are $5000 and 2 others looking at $3000 a piece. So although the BC Early Hearing Program is wonderful and supportive for the first 3 years after that the families are on their own to come up with these funds. Normal air conduction hearing aids are aproximately $3000 if I'm not mistaken and they need to be replaced every 3-5 years. So pricey stuff. Anyhow, that will just be one aspect that needs to be addressed. The other is I'm going to try and get a grant from the government so that we can implement a support/social networking group for the parents and kids of deaf and hard of hearing kids. Obviously the idea has just been brewing for the past 24 hrs but its fun to think about. .....Well Grandma, Alistair and I are off on a road trip to AB. Unfortuately, if you can believe it there is a snow fall warning over there! But that won't dampen our spirits as we are heading over for my cousins wedding. Plus I'll get to catch up with a couple of buddies too. So tomorrow as the sun rises we will be hitting the road as this will be a first for Alistair. I just can't wait to see some Rocky Mtns! Its my first road trip since I booted it up North from Vancouver to be with my son in the NICU in PG. I dare say it will be a tad more relaxing.....K Peps until next time! Have a great one! : D

Getting Involved

2010-05-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well I have officially played my first game of soccer ever! Wosh was that ever an experience and a half and BLOODY FUN! Yeppers I'm hooked. I haven't played any type of team sport since grade 8 so I was a little nervous how I'd do. But my team mates on "Universal Restorations" (our team name) were awesome. They asked me which position I wanted to play. I laughed and said I didn't have a clue. All I wanted was for them to give me orders and I'd obey! Well it worked pretty darn good. They did just that. They started off with putting me in the center defense position and then I was placed in the center forward. Holy smokes batman that is one heck of a lot of running in an hour and a half. But hey I actually think I got the hang of the basics. Plus there were a couple of other girls on the other team in defense who looked as solid as bricks. I was warned " don't get in there way because if that ball hits your head you'll go down!" Well of course I had to get in there way or that just wouldn't have been any fun! I was actually quite impressed with myself with my running capabilities. I could acutally give those girls a run for their money and make them kick the ball off side or at least challenge them. It was good stuff! What an adrenal rush though! Whoooo I got some advice at Sport Mart from this young kid who sold me all my gear. He looked no more than 15 and I nearly choked when he told me he had been playing 10 years! Anyhow he said, the main thing is when your running for the ball against several other people you have decide if your going for it or giving it up cause its the people that can't make up their minds that get hurt! Well I decided when i got on the field I wanted to make darn sure I wasn't considered a wall flower so for the ball I went! From the pic you can see I did get banged up a bit but it was all good. Now I just can't wait until Tuesday for our next game!Before the game Mom, Alistair and I went and was part of the "Silent Walk" here in PG. This was to raise awareness and funds for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Childrens Society in PG. Its such an interesting and inspiring world to be part of. I'm talking about the deaf and hard of hearing. There was a couple of girls around my age up from Vancouver. One was profoundly deaf and could only sign to communicate and the other could sign and translate for her. But it just made me desperately want to learn sign so I could communicate with her! Anyhow they belong to a couple of societies (can't remember the name at the moment) which advocate for deaf children in a school or public setting. So if the lack of hearing is getting in the way of a child become part of a class, sports team, event etc... they will intervene by educating staff and supporting the child so that they can meet their wishes. Anyhow all together the Children's Deaf Society in PG raised $2500 for that event which will help send kids and their families in the Northern Communities to a fun weekend adventure camp in September.

Heres a cute video of Alistair being giggly in his Vegas Onzie! Thanks NANA

Happy Belated Mothers Day!

2010-05-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well all I can say is that I had no idea whatsoever what motherhood was about or entailed until I become one myself! Wow! Hats off to all of you! Now I really understand what it means when you say I'm "JUST a stay at home mom!" Just my foot! I've truly never been so busy in my life! And honestly if I took away Alistair's medical issues I'd still be darn busy! Even when he's down for a sleep I'm running around with my head cut off (well not quite ...that would likely be very unproductive!!) trying to clean up the mess we/he made, get in some laundry, prep his next meal, do the dishes, vacumn, plan supper, get business stuff organized, get his meds sorted, organize all Alistairs appointments with Jason and mine........blah blah blah....or perhaps whaw whaw whaw! Anyhow, its the greatest responsibility I've ever had! It still at times shocks me to think I'm someones Mom. Actually, when I got up in the morning Jason had this lively bouquet and card for me and I just started to well up with tears as I read the card....Wow I'm a Mom! (Some of you are likely saying No S#*T Sherlock) But seriously its quite something to wake up on Mothers Day and be one of THEM even though I have been a mom for the past 10months!....So ya it was a great day. Jason made Mom and I french toast for breakfast and then I cuddled my little man all day. I think the poor little gaffer is teething as he suddenly was a little Niagra Falls at the mouth and he just wanted to cuddle and suck on my chin! Actually, it was lovely as he suddenly fell asleep on my shoulder. This is huge as he doesn't even put his head on my shoulder! ......it was a wonderful Mothers Day gift.

These were taken after I left him momentarily in the chair with his spoon to return to a modern art show of carrots a la face! I guess he can put that down as his first facial.

I have meant to add these photos of Jason's deck from the latest home show here at the end of April. We really lucked out and got a prime spot that was 20 X 30 feet for half the cost. So if you remember the pictures I posted of the deck in the last home show, it was a mini version of this one. Jason added to it to attract a little more attention and show off some more of his talent. It was well worth it. This show attracts 20,000 visitors annually and we were situated right where they bought the tickets! So yes it was a definite bonus for us. Plus on top of it Jason was able to get rid of this particular deck right after the show. So double bonus! Needless to say Jason is now working like a mad man and has his brother and another good worker helping him.

Well if you are twiddling your thumbs this weekend and are looking for something to do the Prince George Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children's Society is putting on a "Silent Walk" and bbq in Ft George Park at 11am this Sunday. Its a fundraiser to send deaf and hard of hearing children to an Adventure Day Camp out at Ness Lake this summer. So if you want to come for a walk, support the society, and or buy a hot dog ...come on out! Cheers Julie

PICS!!~ Vancouver

2010-05-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

I meant to post these ages ago! This is how Alistair and I traveled about Vancouver when we were down. It worked so slick, especially now with the Canada Line in place. We got dropped off a few blocks from the Hospial. Nice way to see the area too!
My buddy Kim and her son Grady met us at JJ Bean for coffee one morning. We had quite the "interesting" little lady taken our pic so we got some good giggles. I think Grady and Alistair we're trying to ignore her....

This was definitely one of the bonuses of heading down. So gorgeous. The whole city smelt so sweet while we were there.

Alistair snoozen as he gets his ABR (auditory brain stem response test)

Quick Note~ well not quite quick : )

2010-04-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

Jeeze louise! I'm a little delayed on the bloggin eh! Life has been HECTIC but GREAT! I just suddenly realized how long its been when I started getting phone calls and E-mails to make sure things are still ok! Yep things are GREAT. We've had a bunch of Audiology appointments to get things perfected. His little bone conducter wasn't working properly so we got a new one. Alistair and I also did a planned whirl wind trip down to Vancouver April 20th and 21st to have a check up with the Neurologist and to have more tests down on his other ear. I had to have him NPO (nothing by mouth) from 6 am and have him as tired as possible for a 9am appointment and we left the farm here at 6am. So the poor little gaffer was so tired on the plane and I kept jiggling him. I finally had to explain myself as the lady beside me started to advocate for him. "He can sleep just a little bit can't he?" Anyhow she still convinced me that a 5 min kip would be ok. It all worked out great and we got all the information from the Auditory Brain Response test. Basically no new news. He has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. I did get to talk to an Audiologist there who follows all the CDH kids. They still don't know why these kids have a high risk of hearing loss but they think it may have to do with the medical cocktail they are on in their first few weeks of life. The good thing is that out of the 65 kids she's followed none have gone profoundly deaf. So yes there is a risk that he could continue to loose more hearing. I thought that perhaps due to the fact one ear has a conduction problem and the other is sensory that the one ear would be scott free but no. Sensory lose can slowly transfer to the other ear. As usual nothing is cut and dry. We and everyone else are just really happy we caught the hearing loss so early as we can now stimulate that auditory nerve as much as possible and go in the right direction. One thing that really puts me at ease is Jenny, the Audiologist in Van. She was born profoundly deaf in one ear and with mod to severe sensory loss in the other ear. You would never know it! She counts on her little air conducter and nothing else. Her speech isn't altered in any way, shape or form and her loss wasn't caught until she was 2 years old! Her mother was a teacher though and I guess they did ALOT of daily speech therapy. But very reassuring for me......Anyhooo ya the trip was short and sweet. I got to buy my favorite Terra Breads Granola and mow down. Plus I got to see Crystal and her son Walter (born at 24 weeks)in the NICU who is looking so much better! He's extubated and the sites are set on PG. In addition, I shared some wine and yummy cheese with Jan Louise my gracious friend who puts us up when we're down south. Oooo yes Alistair has also been fitted for an air conduction hearing aid. SO we'll see next week if it works as his little ear canals are tinny which could cause a problem in regards to getting a good seal......Apart from all that. Jason's brother and girlfriend decided to drive out from Manitoba and stay in the basement of our ransacked home. He's going to work for Jason for some of the summer which is a bonus as he's done it before. So he knows how Jason likes to work.Soo ya, Jason is now crazy busy. He also has another guy working for him that he had last fall. He has built three fair sized decks in the last couple of weeks and he has a couple months of stuff lined up. To top it off we have the HUGE homeshow to go into this weekend so hopefully that'll create some more work for the rest of the summer! Its just so nice to not have to worry or wonder if the work is going to be here for Jason. So needless to say our home is on stand still at the moment. I have taken down the Xmas lights that were up for the past 20 years, cleaned the gutters and done some pruning which all spruces the place up. Now its time for me to tackle the backyard. Well so much for my short and sweet note....Jason took the camera today to photograph his deck so allas no pictures or videos until maybe tonight! K hope all is well on your side of the fence people! ((HUGS)) Julie

My Little Miner.. Priceless

2010-04-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

OOOOoooo what an incredilbly special day. Jason and I took Alistair into Audiology here in Prince George to experience his first ever time hearing clearly. It was priceless. I thought there could be quite the issue as the kid hates hats. For the life of me I have never been able to get him to wear one. Basically I get a full on melt down. Well his bone conduction hearing aid is made so that he will have to wear a stretchy velcro strap on his head to ensure the hearing aid contacts securly with his skull bones so the vibration will transmit to his cochlea. I was expecting this to be quite the lung expansion experience for Alistair. Well he definitely got started on that mode and then all of a sudden it was like he stopped dead in his tracks. He was absolutely in awe with the ability to hear. Even how his eyes reacted was priceless. He calmed right down and just listened. I have a couple little videos that I'll add and its neat to see him just stunned with the ability to hear. He hasn't been on his prime here the last couple days. I think he's dealing with some constipation. So when thats not an issue and he's quite reactive it'll be fun to watch. We even tried putting some music on and he grinned from ear to ear. Ahh yes the things we take for granted. I have to say I really have been impressed with all the resources available for Alistair in regards to his hearing. The whole reason we won't have to pay for his hearing aids is due to the BC Early Hearing Program. The program was implemented only 5 years ago so needless to say we are quite fortunate. They pay for the first set of hearing aids (the bone conduction for one ear is $3500.00!) , all batteries for 5 years, maintenance, and one replacement if damaged. They also set you up with other parents going through the same thing as a support network and line you up with any other resources you may need such as assistance with sign language, educating preschool staff and teachers on how to optimally work with your child, an FM system for the teacher to wear so your kid can hear him or her as if they are right in front of them etc... So ya really quite amazing! ....Well I would have posted this two hours ago but a parent from the Guide By Your Side program called and we had a long wonderful chat. The neat thing is she happens to be from PG so she was very aware of all the resources available at hand. It really is amazing what you can clear and the voids that can be filled in a good chat with a parent thats dealt with the same things your going through. Yes is was good for this mama! She told me about Victory Hill Residence which is actually a cluster of 6 homes in Burnaby in which we could stay at for free if we needed to go down at any time for any sort hearing examinations and didn't have a place to stay. Just another great resource! Anyhoooo I could go on forever about the stuff I learnt today but i think we'll stop there for now as its almost midnight! Toodaloo & enjoy the videos!

Back on Track!

2010-04-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

Hey just a quick note to let you all know I'm not going off the deep end. I have normalized forsure. I think the fact that I was dealing with PMS and the possibility that I was pregnant didn't help the heavy situation...LOL....ya it was heavy but now that Alistair is back smiling at his mother like the painful seizures never happened I'm totally good to go. Not that I wouldn't love to have another little gaffer about but for now I think Alistair needs all my energy and love. Plus I need to continue to breastfeeding for several months yet just to make his life easier, and doing that and being prego at the same time just isn't a good idea. 2010 is all about normailzing for the MacMillan family. I have decided that I need to pick up something that will get me out and about socializing a bit and getting a sweat on. So I figure a bunch of my girl cousins have to have the right idea so I'm going to join a novice soccer team here in town. The registration starts in a week. ....O some good news is I just heard from the Endocrinolgist and his pituitary gland is functioning just as it should. So thats just one more thing we DON'T have to worry about. YAHOO!!!. Well my bro decided to come home for the weekend and celebrate easter with us. So its all going to be about chocolate, BBQing and family! Have a wonderful weekend there people.....I know I plan to.

Topped Up

2010-03-30T11:16:00.001-07:00

Love the sweater Sandra A.! Honestly I've had a pretty rough past week or more like it Alistair has. I feel melt downish really and have done so many a times. The whole trip started off great. I took Alistair down and we had our stroller and a backpack to get everywhere. It worked out perfectly as a friend that worked in the NICU lived between Main and Cambie so I'd just have a 20 min walk every day to the hospital which was so refreshing and of course its gorgeous as she lives right in the middle of all these old homes with amazing vegetation growing everywhere. We even managed to bypass the rain for the most part. So why the melt down? Well its just everytime I go down there everyone says something a little different and they all ANALYZE as they should but sometimes it gets a bit much hearing them say this isn't right that isn't right and then they bring in more specialists because hes "so interesting" My thoughts are its just great you think my kids issues are "so" f....ing "interesting" while I sit here trying to hold it together. Mind you they do ask me if I would mind if specialist come to see him and of course I say no problem as I think perhaps they can shed new light as no one seems to know what he really is dealing with. Plus I do think that perhaps specialist or students seeing Alistair will help other little kiddlets down the road. Anyhow the last two days he had to be NPO (no eatting) for tests...... one being a brain stem hearing study in which they put him to sleep and see how his hearing functions go and the other was for a growth stimulating hormone test to see if his glands are pumping out the right stuff in the right amounts. So then he blinks his little eyes at me and smacks his lips saying why the flip don't you get that I'm starving! One great thing is we got a new neurologist. The neonatolgy team pulled some strings and got us in with Dr. Connolly while we were down. That was great just a much better fit for us. So the last day she comes by with some more specialists and tells me that she reviewed his MRI and thinks there may be some development issues with the brain! That sent me toppling as I had been told that part was free and clear. Now I know its all grey...no black and white answers so one never knows but March had been so positive for us with his development etc and I was so optimistic and hopefull. Not that I can't remain positive but it seems every month we're hit with some unexpected turn of events. Anyhow we came home, mom (ie me) totally mentally exhausted, and the following night he has a cluster of aproximately 10 seizures in 50 min. The worst part was he was in a lot of pain ....he gave out a screaming type of cry. We didn't know if it was going to stop so we took him in and of course his last one was here at home. But they presented so differently then the others. These ones his arms were stretched out at 90 deg to his side with his hands open, his head stayed midline, and his eyes would roll back as he curled his torso. At least I can have contact now with a nurse down south and she informs the neurologist there. The nurse is very supportive and available for me to call which is a major bonus when you sit at home stewing about your line of action. The good thing is hes started on a new antiseizure med but they take 9 weeks to bring it up to their perferred dose as they slowly introduce it due to possible adverse reactions but mainly steven johnsons sydrome is the biggest concern! ACK! Luckily so far he's only had two doses and no signs of a rash. So ya I'm topped the flip up. I've also been house bound since as of course I don't want to leave him. I just like to be close when hes possibly going to go into unstable mode. Not that he really gets too unstable like he doesn't loose his airway or anything. I did get out for a walk last night though on the farm here so thats good. Jason and Mom also offer to watch him but I'm just stubborn. Hopefully thats the end of his seizing for a bit and life can go somewhat back to normal. It just is so awful to see your kid in so much pain and you can't do a flippin thing!

....Oooo to go on about the hearing test...they ended up finding that he has conduction issues in his right ear possibly due to the fact he has stenosis of his ear canal....meaning his ear canal shrinks to a diameter of about 1-2mm. The bummer part is we likely can't use an air conduction hearing aid as they won't beable to make a good fit for it so he'll have to use a bone conduction hearing aid. Which just means he'll look like he's going to be working out with whats her name on Flash Dance. Yes he'll just have a little blue band on his head that will hold on this small little box that sends vibrations of sound through the bone to be picked up by the cochlea. As for the other ear it has sensory issues which means something isn't working properly with his inner ear. Unfortunately Alistair woke up before the test is done so we are going back down in April for more tests but it looks like he can have a air conduction hearing aid which looks like the typical ones we all know. He just won't get it until after the test. However, the great news is he gets a trial bone conduction hearing aid for his right ear by next Wednesday! I can't wait to see how he'll react. The audiologist says its always fun when they get the hearing aid on for the first time. Another great thing is we don't have to buy them for the first 5 years. Thank goodness as this bone conduction one is definitely a pretty penny!....$3500.00 So in other words don't step on it! We found out all about him getting the hearing aids today so it made for a great day. I'm just so happy there is something that can be done for his hearing. Lovely stuff. ...Well peps its obviously been a bit of a roller coaster ride this past week but things are starting to settle off and I am definitely starting to renormalize. Just a lot of input in a short time. Ooo yes one more thing WE GOT A DOC in PG! The Emerg doc the other night said he'd take Alistair on as a patient. That really is a huge relief as there are ZERO docs accepting here. The other bonus is I got good vibes....so ya we've had a few real bonuses in this chaotic week. ...K I had better sign off before my finger pads start to bleed....thanks for listening......Julie

A bit of this & that!

2010-03-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

We got out and about the last two days. He loves it as long as he doesn't have a whole lot of wind in his face. So this is making mama happy as we can perhaps do some mini hikes this summer if we keep this up!

Alistair peekin out into the large beautiful world
Mama and Alistair doing a bit of posing

Ah yes I celebrated my 21st birthday (he he) on the 20th of March and started it out with some fresh raspberries and nutella on toast! Mmmm you gotta try it people!

Mom built a scrummy vanilla pineapple pudding pie topped with strawberries. It was to die for! Prior to the pie Jason put together one of my favorites. Homemade spanakopita which I washed down with a nice Shriaz

Alistair giving you a side profile. He had the hearing test hear in PG the other day. He has small ear canals which we already knew but it does make it hard to do some test. So what we did find out was that his inner ear on his right side is not full of fluid or infection. The left couldn't be determined as they weren't able to do the test. Then they checked the cilia (small ear hairs that transmit sound) in the ears and he seems to hear low

frequencies but the high ones are questionable. We are heading down to Vancouver tomorrow for four days and we were super lucky to have audiology include a brain stem hearing test in which he'll be put to sleep for. So that will be interesting to see what they come up with! We also get to see endocrinology, the neonatology team, plastic surgeon (for his hands) and the OT for new splints. Quite incredilbe really. I still feel humble with all the amazing access we have to health care. Anyhooo Alistair remains sparkly and is showing progress once again which is lovely. You'll see in the video below that he is make a significant attempt to sit up with head control. He was starting to get a bit tired of it by the time we pulled out the camera but it sure is rewarding to see him progress. He worked on it for a good 15 minutes before he let his ma know he'd had enough.... Well folks it actually floors me how many of your are on a challenging road at the moment. Some times life just seems to deal us a hand to see what we can take. I hope you feel supported, have someones shoulder to cry on, and that you can just let yourself shed those tears and feel those emotions you need to feel in order make sense of the challenges you face. As several wise ladies said to me "try not to focus on what you can't change but on what you CAN change and channel your energy in this direction" It sounds so simple but holds so true. It helped me when times were a tad too overwhelming so hopefully it does the same for you......

Lots of Love Julie

Quite the Success!

2010-03-14T21:50:00.001-07:00

Well we weren't sure how this weekend was going to pan out as we put alot of eggs in one basket, but it turned out to be well worth all the effort. Jason built a deck to fit a 10 by 20 foot space in the Home and Leisure Show here in PG. In order to showcase his work he included bench seating, a wheelchair ramp, wrap around stairs, and a sturdy railing. While Alistair hung out in his little tent attracting his own set of people Jason and I talked to a slew of people and handed out business cards. We ended up handing out well over 150 business cards over this weekend. Now we're looking at getting a booth in the Home Show at the end of April which is suppose to be a great deal larger then this show. We hear they have 20,000 people go through their show! At least the deck is built so it'll just be a matter of printing out a bunch more cards and doing some more schmoozing! Anyhoo it was great exposure which we were very pleased with.......As for Alistair he still is doing so awesome. It really is such a treat for us to wake up and have him look right into our eyes with a HUGE grin on his face and go to bed with the same. Tomorrow we get his hearing tested again so that'll be interesting to see what results reveal. Hopefully its promising............

A Little Helen Keller?

2010-03-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

Alistair continues to keep us guessing! He has never been on a constant path of incline or decline. One day the kid is alert, giggling, providing lots of eye contact, reacting to stuff, and generally progressing. Then the following day or even in the same day he can become totally vacant....no eye contact, little reaction, low tone, no conversation....all of which creates a very stressed out momma! Thankfully he seems to be on a path of progression more often than not. In addition, when he comes out of his vacant state he hasn't regressed. If anything he accelerates forward a bit. The thing is when he goes into this vacant state for a longer period of time, the latest one was 3 days, than I start to wonder if he'll come out of it. All along I've figured he has had hearing issues. He did pass the hearing test while he was in the hospital; however, I was warned that sometimes CDH kids can become deaf. Why? I have no idea and I don't think the specialist know either. He just doesn't react at all to rattles or loud noises. He never startles. However, he will start to chat away when I sing. Perhaps to attempt to tune out his mother... he he he....Anyhow I can deal with that. If he's deaf we'll learn sign language. Its not like we'll have to talk over scientific papers with him tomorrow or anything. Actually I know the alphabet already as my buddy Marta and I use to only talk in sign language on our bus rides home from school! Yes ...we were the kids at the front of the bus....and proud of it I must add! But back to the Helen Keller concern....when he was in the vacant state he wouldn't look at me at all. NO EYECONTACT. At the best of times he struggles with it but once you have the connection he turns into a total chatter box and his face lights right up. But not during the vacant time. So the idea of a deaf and blind kid really started to get me. Of course one deals with whatever one is handed BUT I sure don't want Alistair to deal with that! Honestly the whole Helen Keller thing gave me some hope at least in that regard. So...I figured if those two senses weren't available I had better step up the tactile side of things. I've always massaged him off and on but now its a daily thing and he acts like he's totally in heaven with it. He coos up a storm, smiling and grinning away. I also focused on getting different textures into his hands. ....Thankfully, he is back into his lovely sparkling self which is wonderful and he can obviously see even if it takes some extra time in gaining his attention. Jason and I went to see Dr. Earl our pediatrician (who I think is GREAT!) and his whole view on this was that Alistair may be dealing with sensory overload so when he gets topped up he just shuts right off. I guess its quite common in premature babies and actually makes quite a bit of sense with the whole path that Alistair has chosen to take. Ooo it would be lovely if that were the case. Today he was actually quiet hilarious and even somewhat goofy and there was no need to even try to get eye contact which is very unusual for my little man. But o so rewarding for me! I'll post a video of my little chatterbox! He's been attentive, chatty, focusing more on head control, and he even chowed down on some hard "Farley" cookies that disolve quickly. This is a big thing as everyone has been saying he may have a significant issue with graduating to more adult like foods due to his oral issues. But if anyone knows Alistair, all the things you'd think would be an issue aren't and the ones you never expect are! ....Anyhow this mama is back on happy mode...hope this finds you all in your happy mode! ((HUGS)) & enjoy the pics!

Working on Head Control with Grandma Hedges

Sucking on a Spoon After Supper

Chewin on His Favorite Thing ...his Thumb!

Jason just had a birthday and I try to make him a special cake each year.

This one was a Bavarian Cream Chocolate Cake...Very SCRUMMY

GOLDEN OLYMPICS

2010-02-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

Wow what an Olympics! I have to say that I have feelings on both sides of the fence regarding the Olympics. When rural schools are being closed or important programs are being axed such as those in the Child Development Centre due to a lack of funding it does make one wonder where are priorities lie. However, I've watched a ridiculous amount of the Olympic games on t.v. and have absolutely loved it. Its not just watching our Olympians take home a medal but more so the patriotism it has brewed throughout our country. Canadians are not known for this and I LOVE seeing red and white being worn with such pride! My brother George decided in the last minute to buy tickets to five events including the closing ceremony and take my cousin Bo to the gold medal hockey game and Mom to everything else which included the gold medal womens curling event! So needless to say they are in the thick of it and mom updates me regularly. She said its so neat down there as the vibes are incredible. Everyone is enthused and she said "even when we took the bus out to the bobsled event this young looking punk with his face completely pierced and his hair all over the place stood up and offered his seat to me!" She has been having a fabulous time and it sounds like the whole experience gives one faith in the human race in more ways than one! Which I think people in this country needWe've all been hit pretty hard with the recession along with many sad situations around the world so for something to give people such patriotism and positive energy across Canada is this not priceless??? Well people what I can say is I'M PROUD TO BE CANADIAN!

Sleeping Guru

2010-02-27T20:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight the Sleeping Guru had to be put to work. Alistair was obviously overtired tonight and decided to work himself into this unconsolable tizzy. Thankfully, this has become an irregular occurance but when it happens I either plunk him in the bath with me or Jason puts his miracle arms to work! Its too bad I didn't get him on the video just 5 seconds before as he seemed far from sleep mode. Jason takes him and holds him just as seen in the video and pats his butt up into the air maybe 4 inches a couple times and voila he becomes floppy as a wet noodle and falls into a deep sleep! Its hilarious and of course wonderful for us that we have a couple of very reliable options when our little man gets overtired like this.

As for our new house we've pried off all the baseboard, pulled up the carpet, removed all the kitchen cupboards, cut up a fallen willow out back, and removed all the doors and door casings. So its starting to feel more and more like our home! We even had our first meal there tonight and ordered in a pizza. Very exciting stuff for us folk who tend to live in the rural areas more often then not! Some of the artistic work left behind in our new home!
Yanking up some of the old carpet....its almost in style again!

No trespassing!

2010-02-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

Wow I'm a big girl now! House and Kid in tow! We officially took ownership of our new home yesterday. Still feels like we're trespassing as it obviously is going to take a bit to sink in that its actually ours. Very fun though to have mom over and show her our new pad. Plus just to walk around in it and see it from a set of eyes of ownership was different. Luckily we didn't find anything drastically different. Jason had done a great job of his homework to make sure we didn't come across any surprises after the fact. Mom wanted to take us out for dinner. As we were leaving, Mom went to open the door with her command start and she pushed the ALARM button instead! O it was hilarious! To make a long story short we'll just say the whole neighbourhood knows THE MACMILLANS ARE MOVING IN!

Another go with the video!

2010-02-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

So not sure why the last video wasn't accessible but we'll try again! I went and grabbed a coffee and had some me time at our new house we officially get tomorrow. Fun to just look about at more details. They seem to have liked rose bushes! Bonus for me!

Valentines Day = Food Food & More Food!

2010-02-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

First Chocolates

French Toast

Coffee

Flowers

Cards

More Chocolate!

Valentines Cookies

AND more Chocolate

Scallops & Bacon

LOBSTER

Steak

Pinot Grigio

AND EVEN MORE CHOCOLATES

Ahhh what a great day topped off with a

GOLD medal

by an individual who we can

PROUDLY call Canadian!!!

Thank You Alexandre Bilodeau!!!

Attempting the high chair for the first time.

Looking all snuggly in his outfit from Lisa~ So cosy!

Having an outdoor day

Alistair has decided mothers chin is a good soother!

Now whenever he's upright like this he seeks out my chin!

Alistair looking rather cute! : )

Although the screen is black on the blog if you push play

you get to check out Alistair attempting head control!

COURT

2010-02-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well its been a challenge for this mama but I kept things low key until we officially became OWNERS just a couple of hours ago to a foreclosure home here in town! I really didn't think we were going to get it as foreclosures are quite the rigamarol...We spent all day in court, yes Alistair too, until finally our case came up. Alistair and I had to sit outside on cushy chairs for most of the day as Alistair decided to become a little vocal misterman! We got a few giggles and a couple cold stares so I figured we had better go hang out outside out of respect for those who were actively having their case reviewed. It would have been interesting though as it wasn't only foreclosures that were being dealt with there were also such things as adoptions and financial disputes. For our case there were two lawyers there as the former owner was trying to make a case but the judge didn't see it in his favor to our delight. He was trying to say the realtor didn't make enough of an effort to sell the property but they did have 63 viewings and 8 offers in aproximately 4 months. So that whole idea was kiboshed. The bank had their lawyer there too which supported our side of things. We also thought there were going to be other realtors and perspective buyers there to challenge our original offer but NO! Whoop whoop. Its quite the experience dealing with foreclosures as even though the bank accepts your offer you can loose it in court. This is due to the fact that competing offers can be brought to court and then you blindly put in a new offer and the highest offer gets it. Quite archaic really but I guess it works.

Our New Home!!

So ya we are so pleased that we didn't have to go any higher as now we have a nice cushion if something else surprises us as new owners of an older home. Anyhooo about the house! Its a 2500 sq ft home on three city lots around downtown PG over by Conaught Hill. Its in an older part of town but this particular area is starting to get fixed up and everytime we went for a drive by (every few days) people were outside shoveling their walks and carrying for their homes. In otherwords it didn't look like rentville...It looks like quite a well settled area. Anyhoo it also has a detached single car garage and a huge front yard with spruce, mountain ash, and birch trees. It needs quite a lot of work to make it pretty and updated but Jason had a good look from the attic to the basement foundation and found it overall to be quite a solid structure. So bonus for being married to a carpenter! So yeppers we are quite pleased to have done so well with our percedings especially considering we are both first time home buyers!! So now out comes the good ol' Bargain Finder, some trips to the Habitat for Humanity warehouse, and scanning of the flyers to see what kind of deals we may get for our new home. It'll be quite some time yet before we can actually move in but until then it'll be fun to fix up and make our own! Once again WHOOP WHOOP for us! Looking down the center of the house

The view out the front window...nice big front yard!

~ Hope you all had a great day cause we sure did! Cheerio Julie

Olympic Torch

2010-02-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

Mr Bo Man Carrying the torch!

My proud mother with her nephew

The Hedges/MacMillan Clan with the Olympian

Ah yes the flame came our way and what a housefull it created! My cousin Bo, who I bragged about in the last post, came up and carried the torch in Hixon. It was such a special time...unexpectedly it gave me a lump in my throat to see Bo carrying the torch and as I looked about I saw a few other shinny eyeballs. It really was a wonderful site. Him carrying it in Hixon proved to be a bonus as the whole famdamily got to run along side the whole time he carried it. The security had their eyes on us all the way though insuring we didn't get to darn close. Can you imagine if someone jumped Bo while my whole family was there?? Just look at the pics...I would recommend anyone else but Bo to jump!!! LOL Anyhow it was great.

My Bro with Bo

My brother George surprised us and turned up the night before along with 8 other family members from Ft St John. So our house was jam packed once again with 13 people laying their heads down for a snooze. That night we had some more fun playing Rumoli and "The Construction Game" until midnight. Good times O if you want to see more pics of the event George posted them at this link http://picasaweb.google.com/ghedges/RobertsTorchRelay#

As for the cloth diapers YES we are still happily doing the cloth diapering. The fuzzibunz are the choice brand for me even though they are pricey. Even when my kids diaper is heavy his skin is dry. Absolutely no rash issues with them. So yep I'm pretty happy with my self to bid the disposables goodbye.

We had our neurology appointment and we not changing anything. Just a bit more blood work and a MRI for 2 yrs of age. The doc figured what I saw since Dec was "extra movement" and not seizure activity. Not sure how she figures that one when he was contracting significantly to the side for 3-4 sec three times in a row but hey I'm not going to argue when he seems to be progressing in the right direction. At least the activity he is having is less than before. Just an interesting position to be in as a parent and not feel that you are being validated for what you know, see, and feel as a parent. Alistair may as well have gone in on his own in that appointment.....ya enough on that subject.

Alistair is a munchin man!! We went in and got his 4 needles the other day for H1N1, flu shot, high risk pneumoccocal, and the typical combo needle for whooping cough, tetanus etc... He had a good cry for 20 sec and finito the fist was in his mouth and he contently drooled away. I gave him some tylenol a couple times more for me than him as when I had the H1n1 i felt like crap and complained about my shoulder pain so tylenol he got. But it really was uneventful to my relief. One interesting tidbit though was looking into the H1N1 and the adjuvant. I asked about getting the nonadjuvant version of the vaccine and found out they don't give nonadjuvant H1N1 for under 3 yr olds. Adjuvant is often included in vaccines to enhance the recipients immune response to a supplied antigen while keeping the infected foreign material at a minimum. I just wanted to look into the options as there is so much hype out there about going for the nonadjuvant vaccine. Well when the public health nurse and i looked into it the nonadjuvanted vaccine had more thiomersal, a mecury containing compound, in it then the adjuvant vaccine. the thiomersal is placed in the vaccine as a perservative. But interesting really when people are so concerned with the mecury side of things.....Anyhow I decided to go with all four needles as I figure the risks of having an adverse reaction to the vaccines outway the risk of acquiring one of the conditions itself. So needles he did get.....and he remains to be a happy camper.

Actually my kid is in the "Oooo thats my voice" stage!! For the past 4 days or so he wakes up around 4 or 5am for a feed (another growth spurt I think) and then precedes to chat quite loudly till mama decides she can't sleep through it anymore. Yes at this stage in the game Mr Alistair would acquire his own room if we had our own home but for now we are one happy family sleeping together within the same four walls! : )

Ooo one more tidbit...Alistair has reached 13 lbs. Yep he is a growen up a storm and nicely tracking along on the the percentile chart. This is just a little chart the medical world likes to track you on to ensure that you are growing appropriately. They measure the head size, length, and weight and plot your kid on a graph and if your kid is making any drastic changes in the wrong direction they refer you to a specialist and down the specialist road you go....Anyhow we are tracking along it well. So yippeee. It must be all the chicken Alistair is consuming...Here is a little video of him using a utensil! Yessiery the little man grabbed the spoon from my hand the other day and promptly stuck it in his mouth. So now we need two spoons when eatting...Good times!

K toodallooo folks ~ Juels

Out and About!

2010-01-22T11:39:00.001-08:00

ACK!....I had the blog all written up and ZAP it was all gone....so here we go again! Actually that reminds me of back when I was in nursing school and I lost a whole 12+ page paper...you'd think that would teach me to click on the save button on a regular basis!....Anyhooo here we are finally on the outside of a house. My elementry school buddy, Lisa Frisken, heads outside everyday with her one year old Rocco so she gave me the extra little push I needed. I figured Alistair would have a melt down being out in the cool fresh air but instead he was so happy he fell asleep for most of the tour. So now every Thursday Lisa and I are going to tour around town with our matching "Bobs" and get some blood flowing up to the brain. I must say its just another step to promote sanity in this incredible life of motherhood. I actually took him out the next day here on the farm and we four by foured through the solid snow pack to the back pond and did a little slide about on the ice..........The stroller is going to be great for the next time Alistair and I head down to Vancouver which is actually towards the end of March. My NICU friend, Jan Louise, gave me the idea to pack a backpack and a stroller the next time we came down as we then can just hop onto the train that zips within blocks of house. Plus she is only a few blocks from the hospital.
Rocco and Alistair snuggled into the strollers!
Fast asleep

This past weekend was a busy one! My cousin Bo got flown up to PG so that he could do a wheelchair basketball demo during half time of the University Basketball team and also to sign some autographs as an Olympian. When the Olympics were in China the mens team, which Bo is on, won silver and they're planning to win gold in London in 2012! To check out more you can hit this link and you'll get taken to the Canadian Men's Wheelchair Basketball website. http://www.wheelchairbasketball.ca/en/content.aspx?id=57 Rick Mercer also did a show with the team last year and it gives you a little taste of the intensity and strength of the members! Click on this to check it out...http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1236782028..O yes...and he's back again next weekend to carry the torch.So he's a bit of a busy body.....Anyhooo on top of Bo coming up, Valerie and Jackie (more cousins!) came down from Ft St John for soccer and basketball. AND my bud Sandra Whitney and her husband Les came for a visit and she got me out for a ski. So needless to say Saturday night ended up being a great night for a game of Rumoli and a big feast of ribs! Good times!

Daddy getting giggles